Nigerian Billionaire, Folorunsho Alakija, Now Richest Black Woman, Richer Than Oprah?

Folorunsho Alakija is supposedly now the richest black woman in the world with her estimated $7.3b oil wealth. This is according to pan-African magazine, Ventures Africa which recently listed 55 African billionaires and says they're worth a staggering $143.88 billion in total. Alakija's wealth was estimated from her 60% stake in a Nigerian oil bloc, OML 127.


Ventures Africa noted that Petrobas, a Brazilian oil company, was looking to sell their 8 per cent stake in OML 127 for $1.5- $2.5 billion, and extrapolated that even if they only managed to sell it for $1 billion, that would put the worth of Alakija's 60 per cent at about $7.3 billion. According to Forbes, Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.9 billion.

Mean while, the Nigerian Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in her comments on the list, claims that the estimates in the report are actually 'on the conservative side'. So Alakija could be worth even more.

I am happy for Alakija but I have a few questions;

How did she come about that 60% stake in OML 127?

How is her 7.3 Billion Dollars part of the Nigerian economy?

How many jobs does OML 127 sustain?

Is there a company? When was her company/wealth/assets last audited?

How much is she giving to philantropy?

But hey, it's not my money. And this is still as I would say, paper money. All estimates...and this is my personal opinion. Apart from Dangote, Adenuga and Otedola, the worth and relevance of other Nigerian "Billionaires" are still not very clear to me.