He is also the 76th on the list of billionaires in the world, with a net worth of $12 billion from $10.1 billion in November 2011.

According to Forbes, most of Alhaji Dangote’s net worth lies in publicly-traded Dangote Cement, which operates in 14 African countries.

Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa, again, emerged the second richest, with a $6.4 billion fortune, down $100 million from the previous year.

The coveted Forbes list features 12 Nigerian business moguls, including Mike Adenuga of Globacom, who ranks fifth, with a net worth of $4.6 billion from his telecoms and oil companies.

Jim Ovia ranks 19th, with a net worth of $825 million, while Abdulsamad Rabiu, who heads the BUA Group, ranks 21st with a net worth of $675 million.

Top fashion designer, Chief (Mrs) Folorunsho Alakija, one of the two women on the list, ranks 24th with a net worth of $600 million from her efforts in the oil sector.

Also on 24th is the 73-year-old former Nigerian Defence Minister, General Theophilus Danjuma, with a net worth of $600 million from the oil sector, while the 68-year old former banker and Honey Well Group founder, Oba Otudeko, ranks 25th with a net worth of $575 million.

At the 27th position is Mohammed Indimi with a net worth of $550 million from the oil and gas sector.

At 82, O.B. Lulu-Briggs also makes the list on the 31st spot, with a net worth of $500 million from the oil sector, while on the 37th position is Sani Bello, former Nigerian military governor from Kano State and a one-time ambassador to Zimbabwe, with a net worth of $425 million.

Standing tall at the end of the list is Hakeem Belo-Osagie, the 57-year-old Harvard-trained petroleum economist, with an estimated $400 million net worth from the oil sector.