Nigerian billionaires with the highest share price gains/losses in August 2025 

Nigeria’s equities market ended August on a cautious note, holding onto a slim 0.31% gain despite heavy selloffs that erased much of the month’s earlier advance.

The All-Share Index opened at 139,863.5 points and briefly surged past the 146,000-mark mid-month, buoyed by momentum from July’s rally. But the gains proved fleeting.

A reversal in oil and gas stocks, combined with weakness in cement majors, dragged the benchmark down more than 3,500 points in the third week. The slide deepened with another 708-point drop in the final week, paring back almost all of August’s progress.

The index eventually closed at 140,295.5 points, just 432 points above where it began. While the headline gain looked modest, the underlying shifts were stark: some of Nigeria’s wealthiest investors booked billions in paper profits, while others absorbed steep markdowns in their banking and energy holdings.

Against this backdrop, fortunes tied to cement, consumer goods, energy, and finance experienced mixed reactions in terms of share price gains as well as losses.

In this article, we look at Nigerian billionaires with the highest share gains/losses in August 2025. 

Mike Adenuga 

Loss: -N2.42 billion 

Mike Adenuga, the billionaire founder of Globacom, saw the value of his stake in Conoil Plc shrink last month after the company’s share price fell sharply on the Nigerian Exchange.

Conoil’s stock opened in August at N234 per share and closed at N211, representing a 10 per cent decline.

Adenuga holds his interest in Conoil indirectly through Conpetro Limited, which owns 103,259,720 shares. At the start of the month, that stake was worth about N24.2 billion. By the end of August, its value had dropped to roughly N21.8 billion.

That swing wiped out an estimated N2.42 billion from Adenuga’s paper wealth in just four weeks, showing how volatility in Nigeria’s downstream oil sector continues to erode investor confidence.

Tony Elumelu 

Loss: -N21 billion 

Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings and one of Nigeria’s most influential investors, saw the value of his listed holdings tumble in August, largely due to weakness in Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp).

Transcorp’s share price slid from N53.00 at the start of the month to N47.00 at the close, an 11% decline. That single drop weighed heavily on Elumelu’s portfolio, given the size of his holdings.

• Direct shares: Elumelu owns 68.3 million Transcorp shares, which lost about N409.6 million in value.

• Indirect shares via Heirs Holdings: An additional 68.4 million shares shed roughly N410.3 million.

• Indirect shares via HH Capital Limited: His controlling vehicle, with nearly 3 billion shares, recorded the steepest paper loss, about N18 billion.

Together, the Transcorp positions erased nearly N19 billion in value in just one month.

Losses also extended to United Bank for Africa (UBA), where Elumelu holds both direct and indirect stakes. UBA’s share price slipped 2% in August, from N49.60 to N48.65. His 195.1 million direct shares dropped by about N185.3 million, while his 2.35 billion indirect shares shed around N2.2 billion.

By contrast, Elumelu’s other listed companies, Transcorp Hotels Plc, Transcorp Power Plc, United Capital Plc, and Afriland Properties Plc, were flat in August.

In all, Elumelu lost an estimated N21 billion in market value during the month.

Jim Ovia 

Loss: -N37 billion 

Jim Ovia, founder and chairman of Zenith Bank, saw a sharp drop in his paper wealth in August after the lender’s stock fell on the Nigerian Exchange.

Zenith’s share price opened the month at N76.50 but closed at N66.00, a decline of N10.50 per share, or about 14%.

Ovia holds a direct stake of 3.55 billion shares in the bank. That position was worth nearly N272 billion at the start of August but had slipped to about N234 billion by the end of the month.

The difference amounts to an estimated N37 billion loss in just four weeks, making Ovia one of the hardest hit among Nigeria’s billionaire investors.

The setback highlights the risks of having a fortune tied closely to the fortunes of a single company, even one as dominant as Zenith Bank.

Aliko Dangote 

Loss: -N128.7 billion 

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, closed August with a sharp erosion in the value of his publicly listed companies, as declines in cement and sugar stocks shaved more than N128 billion from his paper wealth.

Dangote Cement Plc, the billionaire’s flagship company, slipped from N528.30 per share at the start of August to N520.20 at month’s end, a drop of 2%. The modest decline translated into an outsized hit because of the scale of Dangote’s holdings. His 27.6 million direct shares lost about N223.9 million, while his 14.62 billion indirect shares shed an estimated N118.4 billion.

Losses extended to Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, where Dangote owns more than 653 million direct shares. Weakness in the stock during August erased another N10.1 billion from his position.

One bright spot came from NASCON Allied Industries Plc, which gained 11% over the month, partially offsetting the declines.

All told, Dangote’s listed wealth shrank by at least N128 billion in August 2025, showing how the performance of cement and sugar stocks continues to drive the fortunes of Africa’s richest investor.

Femi Otedola

Gain: N1.05 billion 

Femi Otedola, chairman of Geregu Power and a leading shareholder in FBN Holdings, recorded one of the sharpest gains on the Nigerian Exchange in August, with his listed holdings rising by an estimated N1.05 billion.

Otedola’s wealth remains anchored in two sectors: power and banking. Geregu Power Plc, his flagship utility, was unchanged at N1,141.50 per share during the month.

• The more pronounced upside came from FBN Holdings, where the share price advanced modestly from N32.25 to N32.50, a gain of less than 1%.

• Scale amplified the result; Otedola’s 1.69 billion direct shares rose by about N422.4 million, while his 2.54 billion indirect shares added another N635.9 million.

Combined, the positions lifted Otedola’s paper wealth by N1.05 billion in August, highlighting the impact of concentrated holdings in Nigeria’s most liquid financial and power stocks. The result highlights how incremental moves in banking shares, when coupled with large equity exposure, can deliver outsized gains for investors of Otedola’s scale.

Abdul Samad Rabiu 

Gain: N2.7 trillion 

Abdul Samad Rabiu, the billionaire founder of BUA Group, closed August with one of the biggest wealth jumps on record for an African industrialist. His stakes in Nigeria’s cement and food giants BUA Cement Plc and BUA Foods Plc delivered a combined N2.74 trillion boost in just four weeks.

Rabiu is the majority owner of BUA Cement Plc, Nigeria’s second-largest cement producer. The stock rose by 12% in August, moving from N135 to N151.80 per share.

Here’s a breakdown,

• Direct holdings: Rabiu personally owns 18.97 billion shares. This increase alone added about N318.8 billion to his fortune.
• Indirect holdings: He also controls BUA Cement through three companies:
• Damnaz Cement Company Limited: 637.4 million shares (N10.7 billion gain)
• BUA Industries Limited: 13.46 billion shares (N226.2 billion gain)
• BUA International Limited: 8.1 million shares (N136.7 million gain)
• Altogether, BUA Cement added N565 billion to Rabiu’s wealth in August.

The bigger story was BUA Foods Plc, Nigeria’s top producer of sugar, flour, pasta, and other staples. Its share price skyrocketed 29%, jumping from N459 to N590 per share.

• Direct holdings: Rabiu owns 16.17 billion shares, which generated an incredible N2.12 trillion gain.
• Indirect holdings: Additional stakes are spread across his companies:
• BUA International Limited: 683,372 shares (N89.5 million gain)
• BUA Group Limited: 971,475 shares (N127.3 million gain)
• BUA Industries Limited: 500.5 million shares (N65.6 billion gain)

Together, his food business holdings added about N2.27 trillion in value.

Between cement and food, Rabiu’s fortune swelled by nearly N2.74 trillion in August 2025 alone. To put that in perspective, it’s more than double Nigeria’s monthly oil revenue.

While stock market gains are on paper and can shift with market swings, Rabiu’s empire in cement and everyday food products shows why investors are betting big. Cement underpins Nigeria’s construction boom, while food is a staple no household can avoid.