Trapped in my office at dusk, yet another heavy rainstorm sweeps over Harare. I make a start on this post, until the electricity fails and the room is plunged into darkness. Travel is risky: last week, trying to get to …
If in March the weather was ‘unsettled’, in April it was most certainly stormy - both politically and climatically. I’m writing this post at dusk in the Kano airport ‘waiting room’ (lounge would be too grand a word), as this season’s first …
It’s been a turbulent week in Nigeria, both politically and meteorologically, which has contributed to the challenges of my work in quite different ways. Arriving in Abuja mid-week for meetings, the car radio news unexpectedly announced that the Federal Government Cabinet had …
Just before Xmas, as reported on my 'back to basics' post, Kano State was just starting the data entry of the annual school census that the Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) programme had been supporting. My managers are always …
An issue I’ve been struggling with in Nigeria for sometime is getting reliable information on how many children there actually are and, of course, how many go to school. Just before Xmas I was delighted to see the work underway …
Kano does not get many tourists – visas are awkward to come by and the overland route north across the Sahara to Europe has been closed for years due to insecurity. Recently I headed across to Zinder in Niger, the francophone desert …
Nigeria is currently going through its own mini World Cup fiesta. After many months of doubt, deliberation and dubious ‘readiness reports’ the FIFA Under 17 World Cup is on and much of this football crazy nation are intensively following the super …
It’s just 7.15 am and it is already hot. Not from the morning sun (even though it's out and shining), but from the high overnight temperature that has not receded (talk about climate change!). It was a hot night and …
Apologies for not writing recently, in particular to Iphie, Iyinoluwa, Yassin and Elizabeth who gave such informed and passionate responses on the situation in the Niger Delta that I raised in my post about the Maureen Matheny Academy in Bayelsa State. You guys …
VSO Sustainable Classroom Project, Kwalli Primary School, Kano, Nigeria I visited VSO Nigeria volunteer Sue White's Sustainable Classroom Project situated in Kwalli Primary school, just inside Kano citadel's ancient mud walls to see the progress she had made in (i) establishing …
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