An Oxfam report has revealed that billionaire wealth surged by 16% in 2025, reaching a historic high of $18.3 trillion, as the World Economic Forum opened in Davos.
Titled "Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Protecting Freedom from Billionaire Power," the report warns that the rapid growth of billionaire fortunes is translating into dangerous political inequality, with the super-rich increasingly influencing governance to protect their interests.
Oxfam noted that billionaires are now 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary citizens, a trend that has deepened the divide between the rich and the poor.
While Nigerians battle the country's worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, the wealth of African billionaires rose 36.5% in 2025, more than twice the global average.
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The report also highlighted that Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest man, saw his wealth rise to $24.8 billion, underscoring the widening gap between the elite and the average Nigerian.
Oxfam accused Nigeria's tax system of being skewed in favour of the wealthy, citing that Dangote Cement, despite posting an 86% profit margin, paid an effective tax rate of just 2% over the period analysed.
Country Director of Oxfam Nigeria, Ahmed Hamza Tijani, said that while Nigerian small businesses are burdened by multiple taxes and ordinary citizens bear the full cost of government failures, the super-rich pay only 2%.
"This is not just inequality; it is state capture," Tijani said.
The report also highlighted that debt servicing in Africa is 150% higher than spending on education, healthcare and social protection combined, a situation Oxfam linked to the failure to tax the super-rich.
"Nigeria is borrowing to pay debts because we refuse to tax the super-rich. "We are starving our schools and hospitals to feed our creditors, while granting tax waivers to monopolies that are already posting record profits," Tijani said.
Oxfam called for urgent policy reforms, including: A National Inequality. Reduction Plan to dismantle monopolies
A 1% wealth tax on net worth above $1 million. An end to tax waivers for profitable corporations. Stronger protections for civil society and labour rights.
