The wealth and net worth of Atiku Abubakar

macfranc007 December 31, 2017 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Vivian Falae

Atiku Abubakar is a popular Nigerian businessman, politician and philanthropist. One of the things he is known for is his immense wealth. Learn about Atiku Abubakar net worth, how he has managed to acquire that much money and what he chooses to do with it. You may be very surprised!

Atiku Abubakar wealth

According to some sources like NigerianFinder.com and others, Atiku Abubakar is worth whopping $1.6 billion. Insane, isn’t it? At the same time, such global billionaires rankings, like Forbes, never contained Atiku's name.

You might be wondering:

But how did he ever get that rich? Let’s consider Atiku Abubakar assets in detail.

Abubakar’s first tentative steps into the world of business happened during his days at the Nigeria Customs Service. In 1974, he received a loan to build a house in Yola, which he then rented out. After repaying the loan and accumulating enough profit from the rent, he built another house. He continued building until he had quite a few houses in Yola that brought him stable revenue.

Later, Atiku tried his hand at agriculture. In 1981, he tried to start a cotton and maize farm, but was mostly unsuccessful, so he had to close it down in 1986.

However, Abubakar’s next move is probably one of the main reasons why he is so rich. Along with an Italian businessman by the name of Gabrielle Volpi, he created NICOTES, which stands for Nigeria Container Services. The company is now known as Intels, and it is an oil servicing business that has extensive operations inside and outside of Nigeria.

Nevertheless, along with large sums of money, Atiku’s involvement in the creation of NICOTES/Intels has also brought various accusations of money laundering and conflict of interest. But, as you can see, not much has come out of those accusations, and Atiku Abubakar is still one of the wealthiest people in Nigeria.

You might be surprised, but Abubakar is actually not like many other businessmen and politicians. He does not like to flash his undoubtedly expensive houses/cars/jets, even though he has large platforms to do that on. Continue reading to find out what he chooses to do with his wealth.

Atiku Abubakar and philanthropy

As we have mentioned before, Atiku Abubakar is a philanthropist, but we think that it is an understatement. He frequently donates large sums to various charities, organisations and causes.

One of his most generous donations was to the National Peace Corps Association, United States. He donated $750,000 to the Association, which, unsurprisingly, was the biggest donation from one individual in its history.

Among other things, Abubakar is very interested in the state of Nigerian education. In 2005, he established the American University of Nigeria in the capital of Adamawa State, Yola. The university uses American style to teach, has small classes and places emphasis on critical thinking and student participation. It even has received recognition from Google!

In 2013, Atiku was the sponsor of an essay contest for students, the goal of which was to gain a new perspective on resolving the challenges of Nigerian education. He also issued scholarships to 15 victims of the Chibok kidnapping to help them receive the education they deserve and improve the situation with education in Northeastern Nigeria.

Before you go, take a minute to learn some fascinating facts about Atiku Abubakar.

Brief Atiku Abubakar profile: 10 facts you need to know

Apart from being one of the richest men in Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar is also a very interesting person. Here are ten things you should know about him:

Atiku Abubakar was born on November 25, 1946, in Jada. Back then, it was a village in the Northern Region of British Nigeria. It is now a part of Adamawa state.
He is named after his grandfather on his father’s side, Atiku Abdulkadir. It was customary among Fulani people that Atiku grew up among to name their first sons after paternal grandfathers.
He is an only child in his family.
Atiku’s father did not want his son to be ‘corrupted’ by Western education, so he did not let him go to school for a while. When this was discovered, Atiku’s father had to spend several days in jail.

His lonely childhood was one of the reasons why he went on to have four wives. As a matter of fact, he was married five times, but he divorced one of his wives, Ladi. He has 26 (!) children from all five women.
Before seriously going into politics and business, Abubakar worked for the Nigeria Customs Service. He spent 20 years on the job and achieved the second highest rank in the Service’s hierarchy.
Atiku Abubakar was the vice president of Nigeria in 1999-2007, during the tenure of Olusegun Obasanjo.
In fact, Atiku has expressed his desire to become the President of Nigeria. He ran for presidency in 1992, 2006-2007, and 2011, and he also planned to run in 2015. In addition to that, Abubakar is planning to run in 2019.

During his political career, Atiku Abubakar has jumped a lot between different parties. He was a member of the PDP, the ACN and the APC, the latter of which he helped create.
Despite his age, Atiku seems to be very comfortable on the Internet. He has his own website with a blog (atiku.org), as well as accounts on Facebook (@Atiku.org) and Twitter (@atiku). At one point, he even tried Instagram, but the account is now abandoned.

In his 71 years of life, he has managed to accomplish many things, and something tells us that he is not planning on stopping!

As you can see, some people in Nigeria actually choose to spend their enormous wealth on something good. Of course, like any other human being, Atiku Abubakar is not perfect, but he is certainly better than many. We just hope he is really as nice as he seems, and wish him luck in the 2019 elections.

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