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Abdul Samad Rabiu watched his fortune fall by more than $1 billion in a single session on June 25, as the Nigerian Exchange recorded its sharpest single-day correction of 2026. The selloff erased about $2.64 billion (N3.64 trillion) in market value and hit the founder of BUA Group harder than almost anyone. Rabiu controls 95.8 percent of BUA Cement and 92.6 percent of BUA Foods, so his net worth tracks both stocks almost tick for tick.
The damage spread well beyond one man. Rabiu and Aliko Dangote lost a combined $3.5 billion over 17 days, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Their joined wealth slipped to $50.7 billion on June 25 from $54.2 billion on June 8. Dangote, Africa's richest person, saw his fortune fall to $34.3 billion after nearly touching $40 billion earlier in the month.
BUA Cement shares dropped to N340.2 from N378 on June 11, while BUA Foods eased to N939 from N967. The slide also cost Dangote Cement its place as the exchange's most valuable company. MTN Nigeria now leads with a market value of N17.43 trillion, ahead of BUA Foods at N16.9 trillion. The benchmark All-Share Index slid 2.35 percent to 235,074.54 points, its steepest one-day fall of the year.
The reversal carries a ranking cost. The decline pushed Rabiu back behind Johann Rupert, who reclaimed the title of Africa's second-richest person after a rally in Richemont shares lifted his fortune to $20 billion. Rabiu had seized that spot in May, when a blistering BUA run briefly made him Africa's No. 2 on the Bloomberg index.
The episode shows how fast paper wealth moves when a fortune sits inside one or two listed stocks. Rabiu started 2026 worth about $10.4 billion and added close to $8.88 billion at his peak, almost entirely on BUA's gains. The same concentration that powered the climb now deepens the fall.
Analysts urged caution on the cause. David Adonri, vice president of Highcap Securities, dismissed suggestions that the exchange's switch to a T+1 settlement cycle triggered the rout, calling it a post-trade reform rather than a driver of prices. The NGX, which gained 51.19 percent in 2025, has since rolled out a three-tier price limit system to steady trading.
Luxury, at least this week, outranks cement at the top of Africa's wealth table. Rabiu still owns two of the most profitable companies on the exchange, and a recovery in either stock could lift him back within days. Aliko Dangote, who lost $1.2 billion in the same session, now derives more of his wealth from his refinery than from cement, a buffer against single-stock shocks. Rabiu's fortune still rises and falls almost entirely with BUA.
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