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It was at 11:21 a.m. on Sunday, June 21, that things started to fall apart. Aliyu Muhammad was in the Malali area, Kaduna, northwestern Nigeria, working underneath a car when he missed a call from his wife. When he called back, someone else answered and asked him if he knew the owner of the phone. […]
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With ₦2.759 million standing between Pious Umokoro* and graduation, his dream of building a better life for himself hangs in the balance. The chance to attend a private university felt like a blessing, but four years of relentless effort, sleepless nights, and hope are at risk if he cannot secure the funds. Given his family’s […]
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Panic came last for Mubarak Hassan* on the evening of March 28, 2022. It’s been four years since the terrorist attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train, but the memories still echo. After one of his clients was arrested by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for alleged forgery, Mubarak travelled to the Abuja Headquarters to process his […]
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“I have mental fortitude, I am physically stronger, but I cannot undo what was done to me. Why do they do things like this and get away with it?” Aria John’s* voice cracked from the weight of her grief, the realisation that justice was not attainable, and the knowledge that her struggles were seen as […]
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A bowl of leftover pap saved Audu Gimba* from being abducted, but his wife, children, and relatives were not as fortunate. On Jan. 18, Audu’s family found their way to the Cherubim & Seraphim (C&S) Movement Church, Number 2, Kurmin Wali, Kaduna State, northwestern Nigeria, like they do every Sunday morning. Around 10:30 a.m., warning […]
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1. Boko Haram is Tracking and Assassinating Defectors in Nigeria’s North East. Here’s How by Usman Abba Zanna “I chose this story because it is a vital piece of investigative journalism that brings an urgent human face to a complex security failure. While much of the reporting focuses on the high numbers of Boko Haram […]
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Bilkisu Haruna’s* voice carried over 25 years of frustration, rising through the phone. Her life, which she expected to change when she got a job at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State, in northwestern Nigeria, in the early 2000s, after years of menial labour, was swallowed into an endless pit of suffering and bitterness. […]
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Advisory: Some readers might find this story distressing as it details experiences of sexual violence. Mardiyyah Hussein* had not yet learned to roll the word ‘virgin’ on her tongue when speculations started to spread about her purity and worth after she was sexually assaulted. She was six years old, publicly beaten and shamed, while the […]
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It was not passion that pushed Rahimat Ola* into the medical field. She had dreamed of becoming a writer, but her parents decided they wanted her to be a medical doctor because that was where the money was. After three years, from 2011 to 2013, of failed attempts to get into medical school, she settled […]
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After Zahra Usman* quit a job she described as toxic in a law firm that overworked and underpaid her, affecting her mental health, she found herself searching for a job for over a year. She applied for every opportunity she was qualified for, and that was how she came across one that promised a role […]
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One of the hardest parts of living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) for Emily Audu* is becoming emotionally tethered to a ‘favourite person’. Her world revolves around that one person; their words, presence, and approval. The fixation becomes a distraction from the internal chaos she faces daily. Even the smallest disappointment can unravel her, triggering […]
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Growing up between Ogun State and Lagos State, southwestern Nigeria, Suhayla Yusuf* still remembers the exact moment her Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) symptoms started. It was in her first year at the University in 2013- she had just performed the Muslim pre-prayer ablution and was heading to the mosque when a blasphemous thought came to her […]
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