25 Richest Men in Nigeria, Their Secrets & How You Can Be Rich like Them (As at 2015)

Today let`s check the list of the richest men and women in Nigeria, how they got their wealth and their “secrets” (which are not actually secrets).
It doesn`t make much sense for you to know who and who are the richest people in Nigeria, if such knowledge doesn`t make you a richer person.
That`s the reason why I will not just compile this list of the richest men in Nigeria, but also inspire you with some wealth creation tips, so very soon, you too can have your name in the list of the richest.
Three things I want you to know before we go further.
First, this list is being compiled in the year 2015. Things change. People lose money and people make more money, so the list of the richest men in Nigeria may not be accurate anymore as at the time you`re reading this. (Who knows maybe you will be reading this by the year 2040?)

Second thing I wish to tell you is that, well, nobody can actually tell who is richer than who.
Some people`s wealth is of public notice because they have assets that are easy to trace by the public so magazine like Forbes can actually estimate their worth by checking through their shares in quoted companies, the size and market share of their companies, the market value of their companies and their brands.
Some people love to be silent about their wealth (or they are forced to be silent because their source of wealth is not legitimate).
How can a political thief or a drug dealer tell us about his $50 billion net worth?
Now you get what I’m saying.
Third thing is, richest people in Nigeria (and everywhere in the world) are business people.
Yes, there are very rich musicians, there are very rich footballers, but at average, more people are millionaires through business than any other areas of human endeavor (so the richest footballer in Nigeria or the richest musician in Nigeria may not actually be among the 10 richest Nigerians).
25 Richest Men and Women in Nigeria as at 2015

1. Alhaji Aliko Dangote (Net Worth: $21.6 Billion)

Yea, that`s the man. The richest man in Nigeria and in Africa. This short man (please don`t tell him) made his money through cement, sugar, flour and now venturing into oil sector.
He has raised $9 billion local and international loan to construct a private oil refinery and fertilizer and petrochemical complex in Nigeria.
He`s as well venturing into rice farming and modern rice mills as he`s reportedly investing $1 billion in that sector.
You can become the richest man in Nigeria and Africa, but don`t forget, this rugged business giant did not get to that position by magic.
He has been in the hustling world of business for more than three decades.

2. Mike Adenuga (Net Worth: $4.6 Billion)

This is the richest Yoruba man, the second richest man in Nigeria and the 6^th in our continent. The telecom tycoon and oil man (if that`s a correct English).
He founded Glo in the year 2003 and has since then become the second most popular telecom company in Nigeria (after the South African giant, MTN).
Whenever you see Conoil in the street of Nigeria, this is the owner. Conoil is an oil exploration firm which owns at least 3 producing oil blocks and exploring for oil on 4 others.
Adenuga started his business career by trading in Coca Cola products and lace. Some rumour has it that he later made friends with some government leaders and won some government contracts.
Some said he made his money by stealing government`s money (through contracts) but you shouldn’t believe such rumour if you truly wants to be rich.
People cook rumour about you when you`re successful, simply because they envy you.

3. Folorunsho Alakija (Net Worth: $2,5 Billion)

Here is the richest woman in Nigeria (and second richest woman in Africa)
This is the woman who proves to us that women can actually do great things in life and business. She was once an employee, then working as an executive secretary for different corporations which included then First National Bank of Chicago.
She later founded her tailoring company, Stitches (well, you cannot be one of the richest if you`re an employee. You have to start your own business)
In 1993, Ministry of Energy approved her oil prospecting license and granted her a profitable oil block. She now controls Famfa Oil.
In 2008, Alakija founded The Rose of Sharon Foundation which works to help widows and orphans.
In 2014, she pledged the donation of $4.5 million to the Victims Support Fund (an initiative of our former president, Goodluck Jonathan)
If you`re a woman, yes, you can become the richest woman in Nigeria.

4. Theophilus Danjuma (Net Worth $1,1 Billion)

Danjuma is the former defense minister. He is the founder of South Atlantic Petroleum.
He as well owns stake in Notore Chemical Industries and NALComet (one of the Nigeria shipping companies)

5. Tony Elumelu (Net Worth; $1 Billion)

Tony just made his way to the Forbes list in the year 2015. He has variety of investments which include companies as Transcorp, United Bank for Africa and many real estate investment in Nigeria.
He was a leader of a group of people who acquired the dying Standard Trust Bank in 1997, when he was only 34 years of age.
Tony Elumele has investment across the continent of Africa.

6. Orji Uzor Kalu (Net Worth: $1 Billion )

This is the richest Igbo man. Kalu started his entrepreneurial adventure at the age of 19 after being expelled from a Nigerian university for leading a series of riot. (Thank God he was expelled from school, what do you think?)
He started from grass by taking a loan of about $35 from his mother and started selling commodities like palm oil, rice, sugar, salt, flour, etc.
I am an advocate of “starting with nonsense”. It doesn`t really matter how you start or where you start. What really matters is your vision of where you`re going, your willingness to learn and pay the price requires to run a successful business and make money.
(Yes, making money requires paying the price)
He later diversified into making and transporting furniture and in the early 80s he won a contract from the Nigeria government.
He was once the governor of the Abia State and the second former political leaders to be mentioned here (after Danjuma).

7. Femi Otedola (Net Worth; $900 Million )

This man was reported to make near $400 million in just 90 days in the year 2015 when the share of his Forte Oil Plc earned 176% increase in the stock market.
He owns 75% stake in Forte Oil.

8. Jim Ovia (Net Worth; $850)

Did you ever come across a bank call Zenith bank in Nigeria? Here is the man behind it. He founded Zenith bank over two decades ago.
He was once an employee of different financial institutions before he founded his own bank ( I have told you, though it`s not a sin to start as an employee, if you desire to be rich, you will have to cross over to where money is… business)
He has stake in Visafone plus real estate investment and other business interests in Nigeria

9. Abdulsalam Rabiu (Net Worth; $700 Million)

Mr. Rabiu runs BUA Group, a conglomerate active in flour milling, pasta manufacturing, ports and terminals management and sugar refining.

10. Mohammed Indimi (Net Worth; $670 Million)

Mohammed founded Oriental Energy Resources, a privately held Nigerian oil exploration and production company.
Above are the 10 richest people in Nigeria.
Other very rich millionaires in Nigeria (without any trusted order of their wealth or net worth) are:

11. Tunde Folawiyo– Yinka Folawiyo Group (Agriculture, energy etc)

12. Hakeem Belo-Osagie (Etisalat Nigeria)

13. Oba Otudeko (Honeywell Group)

14. Cosmos Maduka- Coscharis Group (Authomobile, Manufacturing)

15. Alhaji Sayyu Dantata– MRS Group (Oil & gas, construction)

16. Jimohn Ibrahim_ Nicon Insurance, Global Fleet (Insurance, transportation, oil and gas)

17. Pascal Dozie_ MTN, Diamond bank (banking and telecom)

18. Prince Samuel Adedoyin– Doying Group (manufacturing)

19. Dele Fajemirokun– Aiico Insurance, Xerox Nigeria, Chicken republic etc. (Insurance, Security, Technology)

20. Cletus Ibetus– Ibeto Group (Trading, manufacturing, oil & gas)

Please note. The last 10 millionaire Nigerians are listed in no particular order of their wealth but you can be sure they are among who is who in business and the economy of Nigeria (yes, they are millionaires)
I know some sport lovers, music lovers and political enthusiasts are here reading this so let`s see who the richest footballers, richest musician and richest politicians are.
Let me tell you something here.
I am not an authority when it comes to music, I don`t watch football and I can`t tell you with much authority who is the richest politician is (you know many of them are thieves and thieves usually hide their money).
Don`t get me wrong here. Not all politicians are thieves and you can become a rich man without stealing.
The Richest footballers in Nigeria are:

21. Yakubu Aiyegbeni
22. Kalu Uche
23. Mikel Obi

The richest Musicians in Nigeria are:

24. P-square (a brand name for twin brothers, Peter and Paul)
25. Don Jazzy
26. Flavour, D`banj or whoever you think it is. I`m not sure because I’m not a fan of hip hop music.

It`s hard to tell who is the richest footballer or musician because if you want to rate them base on their public income you may not get it right.
Why? Because the money you earn doesn`t determine how wealthy you will be. If you earn 2 million naira each month and love to spend money on cars, jewelries and ladies, someone who is earning 1 million naira may be richer than you.
Most footballers and musicians are spenders. They spend more money than any business person can ever spend.
That`s why they usually don`t keep their money for a long time, so forgive me if I cannot tell you who is actually the richest footballer or musician.
It is as well hard to know who the richest Politician in Nigeria is, for the obvious reason… the richest politician in Nigeria will not disclose his true asset or net worth because he might just be one of those big thieves.
Ok. After running through this imperfect list (yes, that`s what it is because even Forbes list is all about estimate and guess work. You cannot actually tell who is richer than who), what is the next thing?
If I were you, I wouldn`t just want to know about the Nigerian billionaires. I would like to learn one or two secrets of wealth creation from them.
We wrote a tutorial on this website which is about 31 Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. Please read it to know what make some rich while others are poor.
Believe me, it`s more than luck and you don`t have to steal.
To make enough money to be qualify for this list, you have to do the following: