Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has dropped down to the 80th position in the Bloomberg billionaire index, which is being kept in real-time. He’s set to end the month as the only African in the top 100 list of the world’s 500 richest people following the launch of his fertiliser plant this week.

In the first week of March, Dangote was ranked the 73rd richest person on the list, while South Africa’s richest man Johann Rupert came a distant second at 213th position, having lost over $1 billion of his fortune since the Ukraine-Russia conflict began.

As of press time today, Dangote is currently worth $20 billion, while Johann Rupert’s fortune was put at $10.6 billion – earning him the 204th position on the list.

According to Bloomberg, the majority of Dangote’s fortune is derived from his 86% stake in publicly-traded Dangote Cement. His most valuable closely held asset is the newly inaugurated Dangote Fertilizer Plant which can produce up to 2.8 million tonnes of urea annually.

The inauguration of the world-class fertiliser plant estimated at $2.5 billion, with the capacity to produce 3 million metric tonnes (mt) of urea yearly, took place on Tuesday at the Lagos Free Trade Zone, Lekki.

Commenting on the successful inaugural launch of the plant, Dangote said, “It is an ambitious project that will reduce unemployment in Nigeria.”

According to him, “The plant will boost productivity and enhance output across the nation as products from plants have reached the African market, and across Brazil, India, and Mexico.

He added that “Low fertiliser usages have been the reason for low yield of agriculture products. Our goal is to make fertiliser available in quantity for our farmers. We are rolling out initiatives that will transform the agric sector for all.

According to Dangote Industries Limited, the project was built at the cost of $2.5 billion, with the capacity to produce 3 million metric tonnes (mt) of urea yearly.

The company said the plant’s capacity would be expanded to produce multi grades of fertiliser to meet soil, crop, and climate-specific requirement for the African continent.