Born as Paul Barthélemy Biya’a bi Mvondo on the 13th February 1933 in Movomeka’a, French Cameroons, now Cameroon, Biya is a politician, best known to the world as the President of Cameroon since 6th November 1982. His career started in the 1960s.
Have you ever wondered how rich Paul Biya is, as of mid- 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Biya’s net worth is as high as $200 million, an amount earned largely through his successful career as a politician.
Paul Biya Net Worth $200 Million
Paul was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Sorbonne and Sciences Po Paris, and earned a degree in International Relationships in 1961. Soon he started his political career, rising to prominence as a bureaucratic official in post- French independence Cameroon under president Ahmadou Ahidjo. He soon rose to become Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of National Education, and also Secretary-General of the Ministry of National Education in July 1965. His next position was as the Director of the Civil Cabinet of the President in December 1967, but very quickly he rose to the position of Secretary-General of the Presidency, but also kept his previous positions. This increased Paul’s net worth to a large degree.
Paul continued to rise up as a politician, assuming the position of Minister in August 1968, and the rank of Minister of State in June 1970, while remaining Secretary-General of the Presidency. After the unitary state was created in 1972, three years later he was appointed Prime Minister of Cameroon. Four years later, a law was reinstated that the Prime Minister is the legal successor to the position of presidential position, and due to Ahmadou Ahidjo’s unexpected resignation in 1982, Paul became the President of Cameroon. Since then he has been the ruler of Cameroon, and has won every presidential elections held, eventually by large margins, although the initial multi-party election in 1992 was a close call; in 1984 he had been the only candidate and won 99.98% votes. Then in 1997 he won 92.6 % of the votes, while most recently in 2011 he received 77.9%, having changed the constitution to permit more than two terms in office – opposed sometimes violently – and there are continuing suspicions of vote-rigging. He has been described as one of the worst four dictators in Africa, and 19th in the world, a rather unwelcome ranking..
During his reign, Paul has worked on maintaining a close relationship with France, which is Cameroon’s former colonial ruler and still a benefactor.
Regarding his personal life, Paul married Jeanne-Irène Biya in the ‘60s, but she died in 1992. The two didn’t have any children together, however, Paul adopted a child from one of his extra-marital affairs. Two years after the death of his wife, Paul married Chantal, with whom he now has two children.
