Mustapha Abdullahi spent his childhood in constant hunger “roaming the streets for food” in his village in northern Nigeria, unsure when his next meal would arrive.
Like many living in areas where opportunities are scarce, he knew he had to move. When he turned 12 he travelled south to Nigeria’s commercial megacity, Lagos.
“I came to Lagos to look for money,” Abdullahi, now 40, told AFP.
As with many of the arrivals from the north, he has made his living driving a motorbike taxi locally known as an okada.
Yet a recent ban on okadas across major parts of Lagos has left drivers struggling to feed their families.
Rising migration to Lagos has caused the city’s population to soar — spurred by widening inequality between the largely-Muslim north and Christian-majority south.
According to the World Bank, 87 million people in Africa’s most populous country live in extreme poverty — of which 87 per cent live in northern Nigeria.
The nation’s total population is…
Source: Vanguard Newspaper
