WITH a fortune of $3.13 billion, BUA Group Founder and Executive Chairman Abdul Samad Rabiu is now 3rd richest man in Nigeria and 8th in Africa.

According to Forbes recently released 2020 annual exclusive billionaires ranking, Rabiu, moved up eight places from last year's ranking.

Only four Nigerians namely, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Abdul Samad Rabiu and Folorunsho Alakija made the highly coveted Forbes list.

Amongst the four, President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, retained his spot as the world's richest black person with a fortune of $10.1 billion.

Chairman of Globacom, Mike Adenuga, came second in Nigeria and 3rd in Africa with a fortune of $7.7billio Folorunsho Alakija of Famfa Oil completed the list of Forbes billionaires from Nigeria, with a fortune of $1 billion, coming in at number 20 in Africa.

Of the four Nigerians on this year's Forbes list, only BUA's Rabiu saw an increase in his fortunes from the previous year.

The BUA Chairman had in January merged his Obu Cement Company with the publicly listed Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), where he had controlling shares.

The new entity listed as BUA Cement Plc on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) became the third largest entity on the exchange with N1.18 trillion market capitalisation.

In the list, Africa's 20 wealthiest people are richer in 2019 than 2018, with combined worth at $73.4 billion.

The magazine said the list was generated after the billionaires' net worth were calculated using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on Friday January 10, 2020.

'To value privately-held businesses, we couple estimates of revenues or profits with prevailing price-to-sales or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies.'

Some list members grow richer or poorer within weeks or days of our measurement date. Forbes statement further added.

© Pakistan Press International, source Asianet-Pakistan