Aliko Dangote got off to a great start in 2022, adding about $950 million to his fortune since the year began.

The Nigerian billionaire’s wealth rose following a year-to-date price increase in the shares of Dangote Cement Plc.

In December last year, Dangote Cement announced it would buy back up to 170 million shares, or 1% of its issued shares, over two days from Jan. 19.

Since the commencement of the share buyback program, the company’s shares have soared by 7% on the Nigerian Exchange, thanks to stockbroker buying activities and investor reactions.

In the first tranche of its share buyback program, the cement behemoth bought back shares worth N9.77 billion ($23.56 million).

In the second tranche of its share buyback program, the cement manufacturer acquired a 0.74-per cent stake for N35.1 billion ($84.5 million).

The total cash consideration spent on the share buyback program was N35.1 billion ($84.5 million), Billionaires Africa reported.

Recently, Dangote Industries Limited said its integrated refinery project owned by the Nigerian billionaire would start processing crude oil refining in the third quarter of this year.

The Dangote Group believes that the pipeline Infrastructure, which cost an estimated $19bn to build, is designed to process enough crude to meet Nigeria’s fuel demands and turn Africa’s largest crude producer into an exporter of refined crude.

In addition, the world-class industrial complex will create a market for $11 billion per annum of Nigerian crude.