•Reveals wealth of Nigeria’s wealthiest four may fill entire Lagos in N500 notes
•Declares no fewer than five trillionaires to emerge in 10 years
•Warns Trump’s policies ‘set to fan the flames of inequality further’
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The wealth of world’s billionaires, including Nigerians, grew three times faster in 2024 than the previous year, global advocacy group, Oxfam International revealed in its new report.
The report was primed to coincide with the time scores of the world’s political and financial elite are converging for the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
In another Nigeria-specific report, the global advocacy group stated that the wealth of Nigeria’s four richest billionaires, amounting to $23.7 billion, was sufficient to fill Lagos State in N500 notes.
Nigeria’s top four billionaires are Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Mike Adenuga, and Femi Otedola.
The Oxfam Country Director, John Makina, who commented on the Nigerian report released at the weekend, said the country must address social injustices and invest in essential services to lift millions out of poverty.
Makina said: “Nigeria’s wealth gap is a moral and social crisis. While a few individuals amass immense wealth, over 133 million Nigerians face hunger daily.
“This extreme inequality is largely unearned, built on inheritance, monopolies, and unfair advantages
“We must act now to create a fairer system—by taxing the richest, addressing injustices, and investing in services that lift millions out of poverty.
“Nigeria’s wealth gap is a moral and social crisis. While a few individuals amass immense wealth, over 133 million Nigerians face hunger daily.
Also, Oxfam International in the latest report at the global level which was released at the opening of the WEF meeting, Oxfam International yesterday, said the combined wealth of billionaires rose by $2 trillion to $15 trillion last year.
The report, titled, “Takers Not Makers,” stated that there were 2,769 billionaires worldwide in 2024, an increase of 204 over the previous year, adding that at least four new billionaires were “minted” every week in 2024, and three-fifths of billionaires’ wealth came from inheritance, monopoly power or “crony connections.
In 2024, the number of billionaires rose to 2,769, up from 2,565 in 2023. Their combined wealth surged from $13 trillion to $15 trillion in just 12 months. This is the second-largest annual increase in billionaire wealth since records began.
The wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day —even if they lost 99 percent of their wealth overnight, they would remain billionaires.
Last year, Oxfam predicted the emergence of the first trillionaire within a decade.
However, with billionaires’ wealth accelerating at a faster pace, in the latest report, Oxfam expanded the projection dramatically, noting that at current rates, the world was now on track to see at least five trillionaires within that timeframe.
It noted that this ever-growing concentration of wealth was enabled by a monopolistic concentration of power, with billionaires increasingly exerting influence over industries and public opinion.
“The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once considered unimaginable. The failure to stop billionaires is now spawning soon-to-be trillionaires.
“Not only has the rate of billionaire wealth accumulation accelerated —by three times— but so too has their power,” Oxfam International Executive Director, Amitabh Behar said.
“The crown jewel of this oligarchy is a billionaire president, backed and bought by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, running the world’s largest economy. We present this report as a stark wake up-call that ordinary people the world over are being crushed by the enormous wealth of a tiny few,” Behar added.
The report also revealed how a light on how, contrary to popular perception, billionaire wealth is largely unearned —60 percent of billionaire wealth now comes from inheritance, monopoly power or crony connections. Unmerited wealth and colonialism —understood as not only a history of brutal wealth extraction but also a powerful force behind today’s extreme levels of inequality— stand as two major drivers of billionaire wealth accumulation.
Oxfam’s calculated that 36 percent of billionaires’ wealth was now inherited. Research by Forbes found that every billionaire under 30 inherited their wealth, while UBS estimated that over 1,000 of today’s billionaires will pass on more than $5.2 trillion to their heirs over the next two to three decades.
Many of the super-rich, particularly in Europe, owe part of their wealth to historical colonialism and the exploitation of poorer countries.
For example, the fortune of billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who has put his sprawling media ‘empire’ at the service of France’s nationalist right, was built partly from colonial activities in Africa.
This dynamic of wealth extraction persists today: vast sums of money still flow from the Global South to countries in the Global North and their richest citizens, in what Oxfam’s report describes as modern-day colonialism.
The richest 1 percent in Global North countries like the US, UK and France extracted $30 million an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023.
Global North countries control 69 percent of global wealth, 77 per cent of billionaire wealth and are home to 68 per cent of billionaires, despite making up just 21 per cent of the global population.
Oxfam called on governments to act rapidly to reduce inequality and end extreme wealth, adding that governments need to commit to ensuring that, both globally and at a national level, the incomes of the top 10 per cent are no higher than the bottom 40 per cent.
According to World Bank data, reducing inequality could end poverty three times faster.
Another prescription is for governments to tackle and end the racism, sexism and division that underpin ongoing economic exploitation.
The argument is to tax the richest to end extreme wealth, and to make the global tax policy fall under a new UN tax convention, ensuring the richest people and corporations pay their fair share.
