LAGOS — MISTER Femi Otedola, Chief Executive of African Petroleum and son of former Lagos State Governor, Sir Michael Otedola has joined his Nigerian counterpart and business rival, Alhaji Aliiko Dangote on the list of the world’s richest people.

Femi Otedola

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Femi Otedola and Aliko Dangote are the only two Nigerians on the 2009 Forbes list of 793 dollar-denominated billionaires in the world.

While Alhaji Dangote’s rating improved from 334 last year to 261, Mr Otedola is a new entrant on the list.

Dangote 51, is worth $2.5 billion, while Otedola, 42, is worth $1.2 billion.

I'm humbled —Otedola

Speaking with Vanguard last night, Mr Otedola said "I am humbled by the rating. You see all this money means nothing to me. I want to be able to touch lives in a positive way."

Bill Gates tops rich list

However, Mr Bill Gates, Microsoft founder is again the world’s richest man in a year when even billionaires felt the heat of the global recession, Forbes magazine said Wednesday.

The wealthy few did not escape big shocks this year, with net worth on the list of 793 billionaires — down from 1,125 billionaires in 2008 — plummeting to 2.4 trillion dollars from 4.4 trillion, Forbes said.

“The biggest news today is that we are here and there still are billionaires,” Forbes spokeswoman Monie Begley joked at a press conference.

The much-watched annual rich list put Gates back on top with a net worth of 40 billion dollars, although he saw his bank balance lose 18 billion over the last 12 months.

In second came investor Warren Buffett with 37 billion dollars, despite losing 25 billion dollars this year in the value of his Berkshire Hathaway shares.

Also losing 25 billion dollars, Mexican telecoms king Carlos Slim still managed to come in third with 35 billion dollars.

The US surge sent billionaires from India, Russia and Turkey into retreat.

US rich filled 10 of the 20 top spots and New York replaced Moscow as home to most billionaires, with 55 to 27. London comes in second with 28.

Russia, where wealth is closely tied to commodity prices, lost almost two thirds of its billionaires, down from 87 to 32.

No Russian made it into the elite top 20, compared to four in the 2008 list.

India lost more than half of its billionaires, with the total going from 53 to 24.

Two Indians appear in the top 20, notably steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal with just 19.3 billion dollars after losing 25.7 billion dollars over the last year.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at number 17, was notable as the only top 20 member to see a net gain.

About 64 percent of the billionaires are self-made and their average age is 63.7, a slight rise resulting from the lower number of rich Russians and Chinese, whose average ages last year were 46 and 48.

By contrast with that aging trend, Gates is a relatively youthful 53.

The youngest billionaire prize this year goes to Albert von Thurn und Taxis of Germany, who is 25 and listed as having 2.1 billion dollars.

One billionaire unlikely to welcome the attention though is Joaquin Guzman Loera, 54, whose one billion dollars is derived from cocaine trafficking.

Otedola:

According to Forbes, Mr Otedola used a majority stake in African Petroleum to get himself appointed its chief executive last year. Now he plans to merge it with his private firm, Zenon, to create the continent’s largest oil company.

Conflict abounds in Otedola’s life: he claims his friend and fellow billionaire, Aliko Dangote, broke a gentleman’s agreement when he thwarted Zenon’s bid to buy Chevron’s local subsidiary in September. In retaliation, starting buying shares in Dangote’s publicly-traded sugar company.

Dangote:

For Alhaji Dangote whose initial offerings of his sugar and flour companies were oversubscribed in 2007, stocks in both have fallen nearly 70% since last February.

Using his role as committee member on government economic advisory board to encourage federal government to rescue the nation’s capital markets. His conglomerate, the Dangote Group, has expanded its cement operations with new plants across Nigeria and as well as South Africa and Ethiopia.

Sparring with new Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola over oil and gas concessions; Otedola parried by buying up stock in Dangote’s companies.

Dangote began career as trader at age 21 with loan from his uncle; built his Dangote Group into conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, and oil and gas.