NIGERIAN IS AFRICA'S RICHEST MAN.

Aliko Dangote,a Nigerian business industrialist has made it to the top in the continent's list of Mr. Money bags. According to Forbes Magazine latest rankings, Dangote's wealth is estimated to be $13.8Billion and is ranked #51 worldwide and no.1 in Nigeria and Africa. His actually $300 million richer than Facebook Mark Zuckberg who follows him at #52.The Nigerian businessman's fortune surged 557% in the past year, making him the world's biggest gainer in percentage terms and Africa's richest individual for the first time. The catalyst was listing Dangote Cement, which integrated his investments across Africa with his previously public Benue Cement; it now accounts for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange's total market cap.Dangote Cement now has a market value in excess of $13 billion, and accounts for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange’s total market capitalization.

The dearth of native suppliers to meet increasing cement demand is driving the stock price. Dangote projects demand at 72 million metric tons and growing because of the drive to build infrastructure in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated nation, as well as other countries; current supply is 67 million metric tons, a shortfall of 5 million metric tons.

Already the continent's biggest cement maker, he has plants under construction in Zambia, Tanzania, Congo and Ethiopia and is building cement terminals in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia, among other places. Dangote, who recently bought himself a $45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday, has been shuttling back and forth to London for months, in anticipation of a public offering there later this year. Dangote began his career as a commodities trader; built his Dangote Group into conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, and oil and gas.