Elegbede Abiodun
… taking rise from $11.8 billion as of March 1, 2026 to $14 billion at the time of filing this report.
Nigeria’s billionaire industrialist, Abdulsamad Rabiu, has recorded a significant rise in his net worth, gaining $2.2 billion in less than one month, amid a strong rally in the shares of his flagship companies, BUA Cement Plc and BUA Foods Plc.
According to data tracked by Nairametrics from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed that Rabiu’s fortune rose from $11.8 billion as of March 1, 2026, to $14 billion at the time of filing this report, reflecting renewed investor appetite for his core businesses and a broader bullish momentum in the equities market.
The sharp uptick in valuation is largely attributable to the impressive performance of BUA Cement on the Nigerian Exchange. The company’s shares closed at N326.70 on Friday, March 27, 2026, representing an 83 per cent year-to-date appreciation from N178.50 recorded at the beginning of the year.
Market data further indicated that the stock has maintained a strong upward trajectory in the near term, advancing by 49 per cent over the past four weeks, ranking among the top-performing equities on the Exchange within the period. The rally has had a direct impact on Rabiu’s net worth, given his substantial equity holding in the firm.
According to BUA Cement’s 2025 financial report, Rabiu controls approximately 98 per cent of the company’s shares, both directly and through affiliated entities. The cement giant remains Nigeria’s second-largest producer, reinforcing its strategic importance within the industrialist’s business empire.
In the same vein, BUA Foods has also contributed to the upward swing in Rabiu’s wealth. The company’s shares closed at N798.00 on March 27, 2026, with trading data showing a total volume of 18 million shares valued at N13.8 billion between December 24, 2025, and March 27, 2026.
Although relatively less active compared to other large-cap stocks, the company recorded an average of 285,037 shares traded per session, with a daily value of about N220 million across 56,184 deals, ranking 111th in trading activity on the Exchange.
Rabiu holds a controlling 93 per cent stake in BUA Foods, according to its 2025 financial disclosures. The firm is Nigeria’s second-largest pasta producer and a key player in the country’s food manufacturing sector.
Despite the strong performance of the listed entities, other businesses under the BUA Group are not fully reflected in the Bloomberg valuation due to limited publicly available financial information.
Nonetheless, the index incorporates estimates of liabilities, including acquisition costs, insider transactions, taxes, market performance, and philanthropic commitments, offering a comprehensive snapshot of the billionaire’s financial standing.
