Today –  Alhaji Aliu Dangote is the richest black African and probably richest black person in the world. . He only became rich because of the inadequacies of our past leaders. After the war in 1970, there was the six days war between Israel and the Arabs, this war lead to oil price quadrupling in price over night. All of a sudden Nigeria had a lot of money; the Federal government had already implemented the Udoji salary awards in 1974 whereby everybody’s salary was doubled. Of course with the new found wealth a lot of people wanted build their own houses and there was severe cement shortage in the country.

The demand for cement and other building materials was astronomical, under pressure from the military the government committed itself to a massive Barrack building program and thus ordered 16 million metric tonnes of cement for the MOD alone, amounting to 80% of the country’s total cement import.
 
Although all Nigerian Ports combined could only handle 6.5 million tonnes of general cargo per annum, the government had expected ALL 16 million metric tonnes for the MOD delivered within twelve months!
 
By April 1975 about 105 ships, were waiting on the high seas for berthing facilities. By June the number had climbed to 455, of which 300 vessels were carrying cement.  Forced to wait an average of 180 days before berthing, freight surcharges of 30 % to 100 % were being paid per ship with the effect of raising import prices.   At the same time Nigerian agricultural exports suffered.   It has been estimated that the Government paid $ 4100 per day in demurrage for each cement vessel delayed over ten days.   

It was said at the time the cement shipped to lagos could build the whole of lagos 3 times. The cost of importing the cement at the time could build 20 cement factories in Nigeria.

What surprises me most about this saga was Shagari was the finance minister at the time, Awolowo ( A hero to a lot Yoruba ) was part of that government. One would have thought that with Awo being part of that government the government would have taken a more astute approach to demands at the time.

The essence of this post, because some of you will be asking yourselves how is this  thread relevant to what is happening today.  This thread kind of looks at the broader picture, and gives you an insight of how Dangote saw an opportunity in the market and took it. I hope our current leaders will also learn from the mistakes of the past.

The thread will all also be relevant to most political historians and those interested in the economic history of our country, especially students in our various Universities.
 

People like Ojukwu (snr.), the Odutolas, et al, also took advantage of the situation to enrich themselves in the 1960s at the expense of the Nation. The most important thing is to create a system that will make such brigandage impossible.

KnowAll:

Ojukwu senior was already a millionaire in the 1950's. He did not make his money in the 70's. Ojukwu senoir was the richest Nigerian in the 50's. He was into haulaging moving goods from the south to the North.

Mention a single intelligent decision taken by Ojukwu.

You can bash Awolowo all you want but 9 years after your dumb post, we can see who is crying.

Just a little clarification, Chief Obafemi Awolowo had resigned from Gowons government on 13th June 1971 before the Udoji Salary increase and the cement Amanda unwholesome decisions. Please read about Awolowo's resignation letter via the link below.
Thanks

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2016/09/17/why-awolowo-resigned-from-gowons-government/

Nigeria we hail thee

Nigeria will hail thee!

PIPROM:
People like Ojukwu (snr.), the Odutolas, et al, also took advantage of the situation to enrich themselves in the 1960s at the expense of the Nation. The most important thing is to create a system that will make such brigandage impossible.

it's pronounced capitalism