Four of Nigeria’s wealthiest businessmen lost a combined $2.25 billion in estimated net worth on Wednesday as the Nigerian Exchange witnessed its steepest decline since mid-July, pushing the benchmark index to a six-week low.
Aliko Dangote (Africa’s richest man, $30.2bn fortune), Abdul Samad Rabiu, Mike Adenuga and Femi Otedola saw their paper wealth tumble. Dangote lost $1 billion, Rabiu shed $1.2 billion, Adenua lost $26.3 million, and Otedola’s wealth fell by $20.8 million, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaire tracker .
The NGX All-Share Index fell to 240,750.47 points, its lowest level since July 7, while market capitalisation dropped to N155.4 trillion . The decline extended the bearish run to seven consecutive trading sessions, wiping N555.68 billion off investors’ wealth .
Industry analysts attributed the pullback to a combination of normal third-quarter seasonality, profit-taking after a strong market rally that briefly made the exchange the world’s best-performing stock market, limited near-term catalysts, and investor positioning ahead of major events. Abiodun Keripe of Afrinvest Consulting described the decline as a “normal correction” rather than a collapse in fundamentals .
The selloff follows a staggering year-to-date rally that had lifted Nigerian stocks to the top of global performance charts before this week’s correction. Despite the losses, the NGX All-Share Index still delivered a year-to-date gain of 54.71 percent
