Nze Chidi Duru, the deputy national organising secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has urged investors, bank chiefs, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to strengthen the naira in the wake of Abdulsamad Rabiu, the chairman of BUA Cement/BUA Foods and Nigeria’s second-richest man, losing $1 billion in net worth.
Daily Sun reported that Rabiu’s net worth reportedly peaked at $5.9 billion on May 6 of this year, but by August 16, it had drastically dropped to $4.8 billion.
In response to the news that the total net worth had dropped by $1.1 billion in the previous ninety days, Nze Duru stated that the Naira’s value in relation to other currencies—particularly the dollar, which is Nigeria’s preferred convertible currency—was the primary cause of the decline.
The APC National Working Committee (NWC) member stated in a statement that on May 6 of this year, the value of the naira was N1,378.51 for every dollar; however, by August 16, that value had dropped to N1,579.89. The decline of currency values frequently mirrors changes in stock market prices.
Duru continued his commentary by pointing out that the whims of the stock and financial markets can occasionally take on destructive forms.
According to him, an investor may be riding high on the sentiments or fundamentals of the stock market one day, but the situation could drastically shift the next. This is especially true for affluent stocks.
TimesNow.com.ng reported that BUA Foods Plc is now Nigeria’s most profitable consumer goods company after recording a net profit after tax of N95.18 billion in the first half of 2023.
This represents a massive 142.21% increase compared to N39.30 billion reported in the same period of 2022.
BUA disclosed this in its latest financial report published on the Nigerian Exchange.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
