BY Jemilat Nasiru
Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group, has been ranked by Forbes as the 66th most powerful person on earth, ahead of Mike Pence, US Vice-President.
In the American business magazine’s 75-person list, Dangote clinched the second position in Africa, trailing President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, who was ranked 45th.
Both men are the only Africans on the list. Dangote is up five places from his 2017 ranking of 71.
According to Forbes’s rich list, Dangote as at March 2018 had an estimated net worth of $14.1 billion and ranked among the 100 richest in the world and the richest in Africa, a position he has held for almost a decade.
President Xi Jinping of China topped the power list, closely followed by Vladmir Putin and Donald Trump, his Russian and American counterparts, respectively.
Angela Merkel, German chancellor, is ranked fourth, which makes her the most powerful woman on earth.
According to Forbes, 17 new persons, including Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia and President Emmanuel Macron of France, made the list for the first time at 8th and 12th positions correspondingly.
“To compile the ranking of The World’s Most Powerful People, we considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe, and measured their power along four dimensions,” Forbes said.
“First, we asked whether the candidate has power over lots of people. Next we assessed the financial resources controlled by each person. Are they relatively large compared to their peers?
“Then we determined if the candidate is powerful in multiple spheres. There are only 75 slots on our list –one for approximately every 100 million people on the planet– so being powerful in just one area is often not enough.
“Lastly, we made sure that the candidates actively used their power.”
Gianni Infantino, FIFA president, is the least rated in the power ranking.
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