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.
1. 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.
1. Abdul Samad Rabiu
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