The Daily Trust Newspaper published a feature story on page 27, entitled "Nigeria's billionaires of the Fourth Republic: Emergence of a new wealth elite." Four (4) billionaires were mentioned in the story, and they include: 1. Aliko Dangote 2. Abdulsamad Rabi'u 3. Mike Adenuga and 4. Femi Otedola. The one name that deserves to make the list but conspicuously missing is Dahiru Mangal.
The newspaper described these four billionaires as "employers," "political influencers," and "philanthropists."
Dahiru Mangal has all these qualities in equal measure.
MANGAL AS AN EMPLOYER:
Alhaji Dahiru Barau Mangal, CON, is the founder and chairman of several manufacturing companies, including Afdin Construction, Afdin Petroleum, Max Air, Mangal Cement, and Darma Rice, among others. Imagine the number of direct and indirect jobs he has created. They run into hundreds of thousands or millions. Max Air, according to Wikipedia, is one of the airlines in Nigeria that started operating with only two aircraft, but as August 2025 it rose to 10 Boeings. The rise of Max Air from 2008 to date is a fascinating and amazing story of Dahiru Mangal. Unlike Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola, who were born with silver spoons in their mouths and had the advantage of getting a hand to start up, Mangal started from scratch—imagine a truck driver rising to become the chairman of several companies worth billions of naira. This kind of success could only be achieved through discipline, resilience, risk-taking, and divine intervention.
AS A POLITICAL INFLUENCER:
Politically, Mangal is superior to Dangore, Abdulsamad, etc. He plays his own at the very local level. He swam inside the murky political waters. He has experienced and endured the betrayal, the backstabbing, the lies, and the deception that characterize our politics.
Politically, no one can underrate someone who survived treachery and hypocrisy for over 20 years. He survived four well-experienced governors. One of them is a lawyer by profession.
AS A PHILANTHROPIST: Mangal is a generous giver; that is why he continues to soar high. I challenge anyone to show me a single generous individual who becomes impoverished because of his generosity. The art of alms given back to the society is an antidote to personal calamity. It reduces envy, jealousy, hatred, and gaps in the society.
The latest service to humanity rendered by Mangal Foundation was sponsoring free eye care and surgeries to about 18,000 people in Katsina State.(The Punch Newspaper of January, 3 ,2026). This pure noble act came when many people in the country cannot eat 1 square meal a day. When people are dying from preventable and treatable ailments.
CONCLUSION: Just because Forbes Magazine has not published his name does not hide Dahiru Mangal's economic, social, and political contributions in Nigeria.
Mangal is not a rabble-rouser. Silence does not mean weakness. It implies restraint, discipline, and strategy. In spite of his wealth, influence, and power, Mangal has so far avoided controversy and scandals.
Comrade Bishir Dauda Sabuwar Unguwa Katsina.
