Thursday, 6 March 2014

Nigeria: U.S. Freezes More Than U.S.$458 Million Stolen by Former Nigerian Dictator in Largest Kleptocracy Forfeiture Action Ever Brought in the U.S.


United States Department of Justice(Washington, DC)


5 MARCH 2014

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Late Sani Abacha
Washington, DC — The Department of Justice has frozen more than $458 million in corruption proceeds hidden in bank accounts around the world by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and conspirators.
A civil forfeiture complaint unsealed today in the United States District Court in the District of Columbia seeks recovery of more than $550 million in connection with the largest kleptocracy forfeiture action brought in the department's history.
The restraint of funds announced today includes approximately $313 million in two bank accounts in the Bailiwick of Jersey and $145 million in two bank accounts in France. In addition, four investment portfolios and three bank accounts in the United Kingdom with an expected value of at least $100 million have also been restrained, but the exact amounts in the accounts will be determined at a later date.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department's Criminal Division and Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI's Washington Field Office made the announcement.
"General Abacha was one of the most notorious kleptocrats in memory, who embezzled billions from the people of Nigeria while millions lived in poverty," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. "This is the largest civil forfeiture action to recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption ever brought by the department. Through our Kleptocracy Initiative, we are seizing the assets of foreign leaders who steal funds that properly belong to the citizens they serve. Today's action sends a clear message: we are determined and equipped to confiscate the ill-gotten riches of corrupt leaders who drain the resources of their countries."
"We will not let the U.S. banking system be a tool for dictators to hide their criminal proceeds," said Assistant Director in Charge Parlave. "This action demonstrates the FBI's ability to combat international corruption and money laundering by seizing the assets of those involved. I want to thank the special agents, financial analysts and prosecutors whose hard work over the years resulted in today's announcement."
The over $458 million in frozen funds and the additional assets named in the complaint represent the proceeds of corruption during and after the military regime of General Abacha, who assumed the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through a military coup on Nov. 17, 1993, and held that position until his death on June 8, 1998. The complaint alleges that General Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of Nigeria and others, then laundered their criminal proceeds through the purchase of bonds backed by the United States using U.S. financial institutions.
As alleged in the complaint, General Abacha and others systematically embezzled billions of dollars in public funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria on the false pretense that the funds were necessary for national security. The conspirators withdrew the funds in cash and then moved the money overseas through U.S. financial institutions. General Abacha and his finance minister also allegedly caused the Government of Nigeria to purchase Nigerian government bonds at vastly inflated prices from a company controlled by Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha, generating an illegal windfall of more than $282 million. In addition, General Abacha and his associates allegedly extorted more than $11 million from a French company and its Nigerian affiliate in connection with payments on government contracts. Funds involved in each of these schemes were allegedly laundered through the United States.
The complaint seeks to forfeit bank accounts and investment portfolios with funds located in Bailiwick of Jersey, France and the United Kingdom. On Feb. 25 and 26, 2014, U.S. arrest warrants for the assets were enforced in Jersey and France though mutual legal assistance requests and in the United Kingdom through litigation brought pursuant to the U.K. Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act. The complaint also seeks to forfeit five corporate entities registered in the British Virgin Islands.
This case was brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division's Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, working in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, return those proceeds to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office. Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email to kleptocracy@usdoj.gov.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Elizabeth Aloi and Assistant Deputy Chief Daniel Claman of the Criminal Division's Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, with substantial support from the Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs. The department appreciates the extensive assistance provided by the Governments of Jersey, France and the United Kingdom in this investigation.
Related Material: Abacha Complaint [PDF]







 Nigeria: U.S. Freezes Abacha Millions
The United States has frozen more than $458 million in assets stolen by the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and hidden in accounts around the world.

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Late Sani Abacha

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Ace Comedian Okey Bakassi’s Hilarious Letter to NNPC


Dear NNPC,
Please forgive me and other Nigerians for helping you look for your missing $20 billion instead of minding our own business ‘. We were misled by the following :
  1. Sanusi; who said “your money ” was missing when you, “the owner” has not said “your money” is missing.
  2. APC; who said the money must be accounted for when you “the owner” is not complaining.
  3. House of Representatives ; who said you should account for all your income since the past 5yrs.  Now that you’re angry with us and we have felt your anger in the petrol stations around the country (fuel scarcity), the 3 groups that put us in this problem with you have not said anything and don’t have any alternative. We have no other choice but to ask you for forgiveness. Please give us fuel. You are aware that your sister, PHCN is also angry with us for how she was sold and has since refused to give us power. My fear is that if you don’t do something urgent now that our brothers in the north are still busy killing people, our brothers in the south may use the small fuel left in their homes to set a few “things” ablaze and Fire Services don’t even have fuel and water to  respond. We promise not to ask you about “your missing money” again if you can resume fuel supply. God is watching all of us oh!  Hmmmmm
Truly yours,
@okeybakassy
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Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Viewpoints on Nigeria at 100: A time to celebrate?

BBC


An unidentified woman sells Nigerian national flags, during an event to mark Nigeria independence day, in Lagos, Nigeria. Tuesday 1 October 2013
Nigeria is marking a century of its existence following the amalgamation of the mainly Muslim north and Christian and animist south under British colonial rule in 1914.
A map of Nigeria showing how the country was once divided before 1914
The country has since been hit by religious and ethnic conflict, threatening the unity of the state, which gained its independence in 1960. Following a weekend of celebrations to mark the centenary, a cross-section of Nigerians share their views on the anniversary and the country's future.
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Adewale Maja-Pearce, writer based in Lagos
Adewale Maja-Pearce
Of all the different groups that make up Nigeria there is no group that actually buys into the idea of Nigeria, they all buy into the idea of kingdoms and fiefdoms. There's no commitment to the idea of Nigeria as Nigeria, it is just seen as a kind of hotchpotch that you try and grab what you can from because of the good luck of oil.
In 1966 in the lead up to the civil war the northerners were actually demanding that they leave the union until they were told that if they did they would lose access to the oil money and they would become like another Niger.
The southerners, who like the northerners are not a cohesive group, also don't understand why we should be yoked with another part of the country which is practising Islamic law, for instance.
We need a sovereign national conference in which all the elements that make up this union sit down and decide if they want to stay together and if so what kind of arrangement they want.
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Ibrahim Adamu Tudundoki, civil rights activist based in Sokoto
Ibrahim Adamu Tudundoki
I support Nigeria's existence as a corporate entity because both north and south comprise people of diverse ethnic nationalities and faiths.
So even if north or south becomes an independent nation it cannot be a homogenous society; then what [would be] the sense of seceding?
Another reason is that north and south are interdependent on each other.
We supply food to them and we benefit from the oil revenue which is found down south. Jobless unskilled youth from the north migrate to south in search of menial jobs while the southerners benefit from their cheap labour, which otherwise would not be not available.
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Faruk Umar, media consultant based in Sokoto
Faruk Umar
Honestly I don't support the continuation of Nigeria as one entity.
If you look at it since amalgamation [of Britain's northern and southern protectorates] until today, what did we achieve from being one Nigeria?
We only end up having not only political but also religious and tribal resentments and crises all over.
By the mere reading of newspapers and listening to the radio you can understand that there are serious problems existing between north and south.
For example, the recent sacking of the Central Bank of Nigeria's governor is seen as witch-hunting here in the north while almost everybody in the south sees it as right thing, in the right direction.
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Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, writer from Enugu based in Abuja
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
The festivities are probably some smart chap's idea to siphon public funds; nevertheless, Nigerians have a lot to celebrate. Variegated talents from the different ethnic groups that were amalgamated by the British have combined to give Nigeria its present cannot-be-ignored status in Africa and the world.
Some Nigerians continue to argue for the country's breakup. These advocates often find a way to link each latest tribulation to the purely selfish interests that motivated the colonial creation of Nigeria.
But I have witnessed the same knotty issues that play out regularly on the national stage plague the states and local government areas with equal vehemence. If Nigeria were to split, the same corruption, clannishness and miscellaneous chafes would accompany each division.
The centenary is a good time to finally stop pointing fingers. We may not be able to change yesterday, but we can take steps today that will alter what tomorrow will bring. The key is to look inward.
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Erabanabari Kobah, environmental campaigner based in Port Harcourt
I am not celebrating anything - the amalgamation coerced people into a relationship that they did not bargain for and within periods of this marriage the legal, social, environmental and political rights of ethnic minorities have been undermined.
The levels of division today go beyond religious lines - for example some Christians in the south and in the east are sometimes not satisfied with the way the Christians in the west handle situations. Nigeria only exists as one country today because those who are angry don't have the resources or level of political recognition that can make them stand up to say: "It is enough."
A child looks towards an abandoned oil well head leaking crude oil, 11 April 2007, in Ogoni in the Niger Delta, Nigeria
The oil resources of the Niger Delta are taken to develop other parts, and yet we suffer 100% from environmental hazards that the government does not tackle.
I see the centenary as presenting a false picture that all is normal to impress the majority, yet I foresee more insecurity nationwide, more heated agitation for control of resources and a suffering economy.
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Solomon Selcap Dalung, barrister and lecturer based in Jos
Solomon Selcap Dalung
The celebration is a time of great mourning in view of loss of lives of innocent people and the massive corruption that is going on in the country. However, I'm against anything that can lead to the balkanisation of this country.
I believe that a united, great formidable and indivisible Nigeria is the best for us but our problem has been the absence of leadership that will exploit its great potentials.
We have been brought together from diverse cultures, people and ethnic nationalities as a country but certainly we have not been able to manage the goodwill of those who conceived amalgamation. So 100 years on, we are still in the dark and without a direction.
If things continue the way they are today, the existence of Nigeria as a single entity is quite doubtful because the capacity of leadership to maintain unity… if it continues like this then it may not even last the next 10 or 15 years, you may say it will end as soon as 2015.
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Nigeria's jet set: How the super-rich travel

BBC

Nigerians have spent $6.5bn on private jets - the BBC visits one in Lagos

Nigeria - Troubled Giant

Nigeria's rich elite are increasingly buying private jets to avoid flying on commercial airlines, reports the BBC's Tomi Oladipo from Lagos.
"There's an average of nine aircrafts fixed here in the hangar," says Peter de Waal of ExecuJet Aviation Nigeria, looking across at a line of sleek jets, as a team of engineers works on them.
ExecuJet provides a hangar and is authorised by major aviation companies to provide maintenance services for business aircraft, attesting to the rapid growth of the private aircraft industry in Nigeria.
"Maintenance was done in Europe and the United States, but our services here can help save time and an enormous cost," Mr De Waal told the BBC.
A private jet in Lagos, Nigeria (February 2014)Nigeria's super-rich enjoy the sense of exclusivity provided by jets
Travelling on Nigeria's commercial airlines, even in business class, can be problematic, with frequent delays and rerouting causing an inconvenience for everyone, including those for whom time is money.

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Aircraft in Nigeria, and most of Africa, are owned by individuals”
Rady FahmyAviation official
This, with the added exclusivity, has made the option of bespoke air travel a popular one for the super-rich.
"It is difficult to estimate the exact number of private jets in Nigeria because the majority are under foreign registries," says Rady Fahmy, the executive director of the African Business Aviation Association.
"Aircraft in Nigeria, and most of Africa, are owned by individuals who are businessmen and women," he says.
"This is in contrast to North America and Europe where the account is usually under corporate ownership.
"The choice to put it under individual's name is due to financing requirements."
'To owner's taste'
Most of the jet owners prefer to avoid the spotlight, especially when it comes to discussing their wealth, although within aviation circles it is common knowledge who owns what.
The long-range Bombardier Global Express XRS, worth about $50m (£30m), is preferred by those at the top of the rich list, including Africa's wealthiest businessman Aliko Dangote, oil baroness Folorunsho Alakija, and the mobile phone tycoon Mike Adenuga, who also own both short and long-range business aircraft.
Other common models - ranging from about $57m to $39m - are the Gulfstream G550, Bombardier Challenger 605, and Dassault Falcon 900, with owners ranging from politicians to clergymen.
Mr De Waal makes a quick phone call to a jet owner and I am granted access to a sleek Falcon 900.
The inside of a jet in Lagos, Nigeria (February 2014)A private plane is upholstered according to its owner's tastes
A polished dark wood trim sets the mini-bar apart from the rest of the cream interior with grey leather seats.
The passenger area is divided into several parts, including a general area with four seats, a business meeting area also with seating for four, an enclosed area with a large couch that can be converted into a bed, and a small bathroom at the back of the plane.
It is all made to the taste of the owner, a billionaire businessman, who asks not to be identified.
The planes are also mostly registered abroad, mainly in the US, Bermuda, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Mauritius.
Some industry insiders think owners prefer such arrangements as aircraft lose their resale value if they are registered in Nigeria because of doubts over maintenance standards.
Luxury jet tax axed
It is difficult to ignore the tens of millions of Nigerians who cannot afford commercial air travel, not to mention owning aircraft.
People navigate through the waterways of the Makoko slum in Lagos, Nigeria on 30 August 2012Many Nigerians have never flown in their lives
A view of buildings in the Victoria Island district of Lagos (29 October 2013) Victoria Island is a plush area in Nigeria's commercial hub of Lagos
Nigeria is achieving steady economic growth but the general perception is that few are benefiting from this boom apart from its more than 500 people with estimated assets of above $50m.

“Start Quote

You can sometimes see five or six cars at the same time to receive one person”
Peter de WaalExecuJet Aviation Nigeria
For those who are not quite able to afford their own planes, Nigeria's chartered flights business is also booming, attracting international companies such as Hanger8 and VistaJet.
The growth of the air transport industry and the economy has led business aviation manufacturers like Beechcraft Corporation into the African market, with Nigeria as a key focus.
"We have seen a large number of deliveries of business aircraft across the continent over the past decade," say Scott Plumb, Beechcraft's vice-president of sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
"We fully expect this trend to continue as a greater number of entrepreneurs and corporate entities seek to take advantage of the benefits of business air travel on the back of Africa's strong economic growth."
Cultural peculiarities also make it to the runway, with huge entourages of friends and aides swarming around Nigeria's larger-than-life VIPs.
"You can sometimes see five or six cars at the same time to receive one person," Mr De Waal says.
In October 2013, the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority introduced a luxury tax of about $3,000 for every departure of a private jet.
The jet owners responded by saying it was unfair and the senate soon ordered a suspension of the levy - a sign of the political influence of Nigeria's wealthy businessmen and women.
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Monday, 3 March 2014

Nigeria: Sanusi Should Answer His Query, While All MDAs Must Make Full Disclosure

Vanguard (Lagos)

BY OMOH GABRIEL

When President Umaru Yar'Adua (may his gentle soul rest in peace), nominated Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the CBN governor- designate to the Senate, the Editor of Vanguard Media Limited, Mideno Bayagbon, asked me to put together a profile on the CBN governor designate for publication. I did a quick search on him on the internet.
I was interested in Sanusi's economic philosophy and thought that could guide his actions and utterances. An economist is either a monetarist, or a fiscalist.
While a monetarist believes in the use of interest rate and other monetary variables to target economic fundamentals, the fiscalist tends towards the use of taxes and tariffs to achieve the same purpose; all for the common good.
As much as I tried to place Sanusi on these platforms, I did not in my search, find any single paper written by him before becoming CBN governor that was not socio-political or an activist-based proclaiming the right of women under Sharia law or a response to a socio-political debate between the north and south.
The article I put together for the Editor was such that in his opinion, could not be published at the time so that it will not appear as if Vanguard was against the appointment of Sanusi as CBN governor. The editor was right because at Vanguard, editing is knowing what not to publish.
I am stating this in the light of the series of events that led to Sanusi's suspension. Nigerians are either completely ignorant of trends or are simply disinterested in the affairs of the country that they reduce everything under the sun to sentiments and ethnic colouration.
The ongoing debate on Sanusi's suspension has portrayed the CBN as a sovereign within a state. The real issues are being brushed aside and sentiments and opposition for the sake of it, have taken the center stage. Worst, are the civil society groups and the APC which utterances and positions are just one sided.
They are not looking at the law from an objective perspective. The Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council, Mr Jim Obazee met with journalists in Akodo, Lagos State in December on a two-day retreat.
At the retreat, he stated that the CBN has not complied with the directive of the council that its account should be rendered in the International Financial Reporting Standard format.
When probed, he simply said that the deadline given will expire by December 2013 and by January 2014, he will reel out names of agencies of government that have failed to comply. The global business community is embracing the International Financial Reporting Standard as a result of the need for full disclosures following lessons learnt from the global financial meltdown of 2008.
The CBN as the regulator of banks, has since compelled banks to comply, but its own accounts are not rendered in the same format. Nigerians have not bordered to ask why the CBN does not want full disclosure.
Nigerians have also not asked whether the Financial Reporting Council is an act of the National Assembly and if so, does it have the powers to do what it has done?
Sanusi has been the CBN Governor for almost five years, is he just discovering that the NNPC account is fraught with anomalies?
Under President Yar Adua, was he not aware that NNPC has been a pain in the neck of government? Why now? Was Sanusi blowing the so-called whistle knowing what he has done and that as his tenure draws to a close, questions will be asked?
I quite sympathize with Sanusi because when the chips are down, those who find in him a willing tool will be the first to abandon him. Is El-Rufai making altruistic visit to the suspended governor or for the benefit he has derived from associating with him? Who is doing the architectural drawings of the proposed CBN events center?
Nigerians may want to know who won the contract. The land proposed for the structure that originally belonged to NITEL and was sold by BPE for peanuts was bought by the CBN for a whopping N17 billion. Why and for what reason was the cost escalated from N1.7 billion to N17 billion?
The issues involved in Sanusi's suspension have not the interest of the common Nigerian at heart as many are jumping on the rooftops and sounding populist in order to be branded "patriotic".
The real patriots as I have found out are those who apply pressure where it matters most - and sometimes on some issues that might be in private for the general good. To any objective analyst, the facts of the matter are clear and are all now in the public domain.
Mid last year, about June 7 or so, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) wrote to the President. This was a damning attack on the integrity of the CBN where very strong financial words like "fraud" and "misrepresentation of facts" were used freely and also recommended that strong action be taken against the CBN Governor and all the Deputy Governors.
The Council's 2012 financial report on the CBN to my mind, is an attack on the entire institution (CBN). What some Nigerians are not looking at is that the June 2013 letter was issued by FRC in response to CBN's earlier response to its audit query. This means that there has been correspondences between the CBN and the Council.
Does it mean that the exchanges were taking place without the CBN Governor knowing? Was the CBN letter to Mr. President about three months after it was queried drawing attention to revenue shortfalls and NNPC's failure to credit the Federation Account with all the monies that it was supposed to, an after-thought aimed at diverting government's attention from the rot in the CBN? No Nigerian, including my good self, is holding brief for NNPC, I do know that Murtar Mansur when he was minister under Yar Adua said NNPC was a big problem to government.
The rot in NNPC has been on for a long while so if there is a shortfall, then there is a problem if the CBN that is banker to government is just realising this as a drain on public funds and a serious issue that should be looked into.
Nigerians who own businesses or run companies know for certain that the Financial Reporting Council has been giving them sleepless nights because they are forced to comply with its cumbersome reporting process.
The private sector companies have no choice but to comply. Why should government officials be exempted from complying with the same rule? Is Nigeria running two economies, one for the private sector and the other for government? Certainly not!
What Nigerians should be demanding is that all Ministries, Department and Agencies of government - federal, state and local - must publish their accounts with full disclosure. NNPC's account used to be published when Gaius Obaseki was the Managing Director. Why did NNPC stop making public its account? The CBN must provide satisfactory answers to FRC's queries and all other MDAs must be subjected to scrutiny. Period!
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Nigeria: 12 People Who Control Nigeria's Economy

Leadership (Abuja)


BY BUKOLA IDOWU, CHIMA AKWAJA AND NSE ANTHONY-UKO

About 12 Nigerians currently control one-eighth (1/8) of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), a survey conducted by LEADERSHIP Weekend has revealed. In the same way, the 10 most capitalised companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) make up over one-fifth of the country's economy with many of the major shareholders drawn from the ranks of the 10 richest Nigerians.
An analysis of the Forbes 50 Richest Africans' List indicates that the 12 Nigerians listed therein currently have an estimated total net-worth of $33.68 billion (N5.38 trillion) which represents 12.8 per cent or about one-eighth of Nigeria's GDP figure put at $262.6 billion (N42 trillion) as at December 2012.
The 10 most capitalised companies, on the other hand, together are valued N9.35trn ($58bn). Curiously, LEADERSHIP Weekend investigation shows that none of the top 10 capitalised companies is an oil company, since oil exploration and drilling companies are not quoted on the NSE. It is estimated that more than half of the country's 12 wealthiest individuals made their money and are still making money from the oil industry.
However, with the envisaged rebasing of Nigeria's GDP, it is expected that the country's GDP figure will increase, thus resulting in a drop in the percentage of the nation's economy controlled by these individuals and companies.
According to the Forbes African 50 Richest list released in November 2013, Aliko Dangote is Africa's richest man with a net worth of $20.8 billion. This shows that Dangote alone controls about 8 per cent of the nation's GDP while the remaining 11 people control only 4.8 per cent of the GDP.
But Dangote could see his share of the country's wealth reduced to about 5 per cent after the base year for measuring the size of the economy is brought forward from the 1990s to better reflect companies that have sprung up in the last two decades. Economists expect the National Bureau of Statistics to put the GDP at around $400bn when NBS finally comes out with a figure.
One of Dangote's companies, Dangote Cement, also comes tops as the most capitalised company with a market value of N3.92 trillion ($24.5bn), giving it close to 10 per cent of the GDP or about 6.25 per cent after rebasing.
As a subsidiary of the Dangote Group, the cement company got listed on the NSE in October 2010. The company announced a gross revenue of N103.03 billion with a profit of N54 billion as at September 30, 2013.
Telecom, banking and oil investor Mike Adenuga ranks fifth on the Forbes Africa Rich List and second in Nigeria with a net worth of $4.6 billion. This gives him 1 per cent
None of his companies, however, is on the top 10 of the most capitalised on the stock exchange with Globacom, his telecommunication company, the only major one that is completely privately owned and not listed on the exchange. The 61-year-old who hails from Ijebu, Ogun State, built his fortune in oil production and telecoms.
His mobile telecom outfit, Globacom, has over 25 million subscribers in Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. He also owns Conoil Producing, a large indigenous oil exploration company.
Having beaten Oprah Winfrey to be the richest black woman, Folorunsho Alakija, became Nigeria's first female billionaire and the 13th richest African, thanks to a lucrative oil-producing asset with a total net worth of $2.5 billion. This oil giant contributes roughly 0.95 per cent to the GDP which could come to roughly 0.625 per cent when the NBS announces its new GDP figures.
After working as a secretary in a Nigerian merchant bank in the 1970s, Alakija quit her job to study fashion designing in England. She subsequently founded Supreme Stitches, a Nigerian fashion label that caters to upscale clientele, including Maryam Babangida, the late wife to Nigeria's former military president, Ibrahim Babangida. The president awarded her company, Famfa Oil, an oil prospecting licence, OML 127, one of Nigeria's most prolific oil blocks.
Abdulsamad Rabiu joins the ranks of Africa's richest and the world's billionaires for the first time based on success at his BUA Group, whose biggest businesses are sugar refining and cement. BUA Group's annual revenues are estimated at $2 billion. The group also does business in real estate, steel, port concessions, manufacturing, oil and gas and shipping.
After calculating Rabiu's worth, Forbes magazine said his "stake in his commodities and cement empire, plus his real estate holdings in South Africa and London, are worth $1.2 billion, up from $670 million a year ago, primarily due to better information on Rabiu's holdings and the revenue of his companies." While not all his investments are traced to Nigeria, with $1.2bn to his name, Rabiu gets to have a say in how the country's economy is managed, at least a 0.45 per cent and maybe 0.3 per cent after rebasing.
Delta State-born Nigerian banker Jim Ovia ranks the 28th richest African and fifth richest Nigerian. He founded the Zenith Bank Group, one of Nigeria's largest financial services groups, with a market capitalisation of more than $4.5 billion (N728.4bn).
With a net worth of $900 million, Ovia is Zenith bank's largest individual shareholder, with a 9 per cent stake. This gives Ovia a 0.34 per cent share of the current GDP and about 0.225 per cent of the expected figure. The bank on the other hand has a 1.72 per cent share of $262bn official GDP figure and could come down to 1.125 per cent after rebasing.
Ovia owns dozens of prime properties in pricey Nigerian neighbourhoods like Victoria Island and Ikoyi. Ovia also runs Visafone, a mobile telecoms outfit, and is partnering with Marriott to build a new five-star hotel in Lagos.
Retired Nigerian general and former defence minister Theophilus Danjuma ranks the sixth richest in Nigeria and 29th in Africa with a net worth of $700 million. His share of GDP stands at 0.267 per cent and could later become 0.175 per cent. He chairs South Atlantic Petroleum (Sapetro), a Nigeria-based upstream oil and gas exploration and production company which was awarded an oil block (OML 130) by the Sani Abacha regime in the 1990s, and in 2006 Danjuma sold a 45 per cent stake to Chinese oil company CNOOC for $1.75 billion, retaining a 5 per cent stake. In 2011, Danjuma said he had $500 million left from selling the block to CNOOC. He donated it to the TY Danjuma Foundation, a philanthropic organisation that is catering to educational, health and microcredits causes for the downtrodden. Danjuma also owns real estate in Lagos, including SAPETRO Towers.
Oba Otuddeko, industrialist and former president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, who chairs Nigeria's Honeywell Group, with interests in oil and gas, flour milling, real estate and marine transportation, is next after Danjuma on the Nigerian list but ranks 33rd richest in Africa with a net worth of $575 million. Honeywell Flour is publicly traded. He also owns a minority stake in mobile phone giant Bharti Airtel's Nigerian operations, and a stake in Radisson Blu, a sprawling oceanfront hotel in Lagos, Nigeria.
Hakeem Belo-Osagie and Mohammed Indimi both share the 34th position with a Tanzanian with a net worth of $550 million.
Belo-Osagie is the chairman and a significant shareholder of the Nigerian operations of United Arab Emirates-based telecom provider Etisalat, Nigeria's fastest growing mobile telecom network, with a subscriber base of 17 million, up from six million three years ago. Etisalat's growth is the catalyst for Belo-Osagie's increased fortune, up by $150 million from a year ago. He now controls 0.21 per cent of the economy.
Mohammed Indimi, chairman of Oriental Energy Resources, a private Nigerian oil exploration and production company, has a net worth of $550 million. His contribution to GDP could be as much 0.13 per cent after NBS announces its estimates of the country's GDP. Oriental, which Indimi founded in 1990, has three projects in the offshore Nigerian oil and gas industry, including the Ebok Field, which produces 35,000 barrels a day. It shares ownership of the projects with U.K.-listed oil exploration company Afren Plc. The Ebok Field was awarded to Oriental Energy Resources in 2007 by a joint venture between Exxon-Mobil and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The 10th richest Nigerian who ranks 38 on the African list with a net worth of $500 million is Sani Bello, who is the founder of Amni International Petroleum Development Company, an oil exploration company with a 50 per cent interest in the Okoro Setu oil field, located in shallow waters offshore Nigeria. With half a billion dollars to his name, he contributes 0.19 per cent of GDP which could later be revised to 0.125 per cent.
Amni shares ownership of the Okoro Setu field with London-listed exploration firm Afren; production averages 18,200 barrels a day. Bello is also a minority stakeholder in mobile telecom firm MTN Nigeria. He is a former Nigerian military governor from Kano State and a one-time ambassador to Zimbabwe. His Sani Bello Foundation provides small loans and grants to young Nigerian entrepreneurs.
The other two are Femi Otedola and Tunde Folawiyo with net worth of $410 million and $400 million respectively.
Top 10 most capitalised quoted companies as at January 10, 2014, on the Nigerian Stock Exchange are:
COMPANIES CAPITALISATION
Dangote Cement N3.92 trillion
Nigeria Breweries N1.23. trillion
Nestle N919.49 billion
Guaranty Trust Bank N832.90 billion
Zenith Bank N728.4 billion
FBN Holding N504.17 billion
Guinness Nigeria N356.9 billion
Lafarge Wapco N345.18 billion
United Bank for Africa N296.83 billion
Access Bank N219.73 billion
Kaduna
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