Scam Hall of Fame Ep 1: The Cement Armada Scandal 1974 - ?

The Nigerian Scam

In this episode, we revisit the Cement Armada Scandal, which we consider one of the foundational scams of the Nigerian political economy. The scandal saw the newly oil-rich post-civil war Nigerian government bumble into ordering half of the world's concrete supply, by some estimates. The arrival of hundred of cement laden ships effectively shut down the ports in Lagos for over a year, forcing the Nigerian government to pay huge fines to real and fictitious shipping companies as a result of the delays. Involving corrupt Nigerian officials, wily shipping companies, devious British MPs, a Balkan princess, a Czech spy, a body in the Thames, and a host of other scalawags from across the globe, the scandal 'cemented' Nigeria's international reputation as an Eldorado of fraud, among its other significant legacies.

In the first of our special series on Nigeria's foundational scams, we go through the major turning points of the scandal, debating its origins and long term impacts.

Special thanks to @Tay007 who runs the Youtube channel "My fellow Nigerians" from which we cribbed the intro summary of the scandal. Check out his page.

And, also...

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Further Reading:

Legacies of the Cement Armada

Untangling government, market, and investment failure during the Nigerian oil boom: the Cement Armada scandal 1974–1980

(Image courtesy of https://jojonaija.com/cement-armada-affair-how-the-gowon-regime-flooded-lagos-port-with-cements/)