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. …
Read More
Labaran Kaduna says his son, Desire, was unlucky in life. Two months after Desire’s white wedding in Rigange, a small Bachama community in the Lamurde local government area of Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria, his newly built house was burnt to the ground when the Tshobo and Bachama tribes first clashed in July, 2025. A year …
Read More
Chellu Masaram’s shelter stands on a patch of land in Goniri, a community a few kilometres from Bama town in northeastern Nigeria. At 85, she does not have the strength to build a house. So when she and her grandchildren arrived after the closure of the Government Senior Science Secondary School (GSSS) camp in Bama, …
Read More
Wrapped in a black cloth stained with her own blood, a three-month-old baby in a light green shirt was lowered into a grave beside eight other members of her family. They had all been killed in an overnight attack on Kum, a village in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, in North Central Nigeria. …
Read More
Joy Oga, a pregnant woman in her second trimester, was harvesting yams on her farm in Kwanta/Dooshima area when armed men attacked. The 31-year-old farmer had gone out with three others from her community on June 16 to harvest the farm she had been unable to reach since her village was invaded in September 2025. …
Read More
On a hot Tuesday afternoon in Yola, Adamawa State, in northeastern Nigeria, 32-year-old Fidelis Mbai walked to a point-of-sale (POS) stand to withdraw ₦35,000. The POS operator, Abu Sani, collected his Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card and inserted it into a POS terminal. Fidelis entered his Personal Identification Number (PIN). Within seconds, he received a …
Read More
In the afternoon of May 31, 2026, the Anguwan Hausawa area of the Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State, North-Central Nigeria, was thrown into mourning. The news of Abubakar Usman’s death in the lodge water had spread through the area, and people were trooping to the house to extend their condolences to his parents. …
Read More
“I am temporarily relocating to Kumalia.” When Kaka Ali said those words over the phone on June 8, I nearly asked him to repeat himself. I had been speaking to him about farming and survival in northern Borno for nearly two years. Kumalia was where he was born, but it was also a place that …
Read More
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 …
Read More
Even before the first naira changes hands or the first customer calls, Musa Lekki reaches for his phone. It is 5:32 a.m. on a Tuesday, and like many smartphone users, he begins his day with a glance at his phone screen. The 42-year-old provisions trader lives in Yola, northeastern Nigeria, and runs a small wholesale …
Read More
When the first three people fell sick on Thursday, June 11, residents of Doron Baga were unsure what was happening. The symptoms – vomiting, diarrhoea, and weakness – were familiar enough in a rural community where access to healthcare is limited, and illnesses are often treated at home or by local patent medicine vendors. However, …
Read More
Every Thursday, 35-year-old Fatima Sani joins hundreds of other women from neighbouring communities across Demsa, a local government area in Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria, to obtain Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for her one-year-old malnourished daughter at the Demsa Primary Healthcare Centre. The mother of nine has made several trips to the centre to ensure her …
Read More