Usman Muhammed and his family were not going to leave their hometown even in the face of severe suffering. There was too much at stake. They had lived all their lives in this place and had built their wealth from rearing livestock and farming millet, sorghum, guinea corn, groundnut, and beans. But, this year, they […]
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Somewhere along Dutsinma Road in Katsina lies the office of one of Nigeria’s lesser-known construction companies. A white sliding gate reluctantly opens into the premises. About two dozen people loiter outside, hinting at what could be going on. Inside, on the right, are hundreds of women and children, mostly sitting on the ground and on […]
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The first sign of trouble is a navy blue old-model Volkswagen hatchback. The car has just pulled up metres away from the central mosque in Gatawa, a town in Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria. Out of it come at least 10 girls who are from the neighbouring town of Tarah, dressed in colourful dresses and hijabs, some […]
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That Mukhtar Marafa is alive today, if you ask him, is nothing short of miraculous. The young man’s village of Tabannin Gandi was besieged in June 2018. Before then, terrorists had attacked neighbouring communities, robbed them of their possessions, and seized residents in exchange for ransom. One morning, people in Tabanni woke up to the […]
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When Nigeria became too distressing for Abdullahi, he gathered what remained of his valuables, travelled hundreds of kilometres towards the north, and sought refuge in the neighbouring Niger Republic. He has since not looked back. One Thursday evening in June, Nigerian refugees at the Chadakori displacement camp gather under a large Neem tree to receive […]
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