Latest from Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi
Living in Part-Time Exile on the Niger-Nigeria Border
Violent bandit attacks have rendered Illela, once a thriving rural hub in northwestern Nigeria, a ghost town by night and created a peculiar new kind of refugee in the region: the cross-border commuter. Many residents flee to safety each night across the border to the small Nigerien town of Birni-N'Konni.
Rice Farming Brought Prosperity to Northwestern Nigeria — Then the Bandits Came
After Nigeria banned rice imports in 2015, thousands of farmers in the country’s impoverished northwest took out government loans to start cultivating it locally and made great gains. Yet poor law enforcement has allowed bandits to target these communities’ profits through extortion and kidnapping.