Aliko Dangote cut his teeth in business in Lagos’s infamous “cement armada” of the 1970s. By the middle of the decade, Nigeria was rushing to convert petro- dollars into the building blocks of a new, industrialised economy. The country was importing cement in such quantities that ships, loaded to the gunnels, sank as they awaited berth in Lagos, prey to piracy and the Atlantic swell.

Some 400 vessels were lolling offshore when Mr Dangote got his break in the cement market – thanks to a well-placed uncle with a government import licence, he recalls in a rare interview at his representative office in London.