CAMELS AND GOATS jostle with cars and motorcycles on the narrow roads cutting though the dry scrub of Sokoto, Nigeria’s northernmost big city. The state, of the same name, is a long way from Lagos, the commercial centre, not just geographically but in almost every way.
Where Lagos has lush jungle lining the roads, Sokoto has desert. Where Lagos has bustling commerce, Sokoto has miserable destitution. About eight out of every ten people in the state are classified as living in poverty. Local government is on the verge of collapse. Electricity supplies are intermittent, even on good days. No water has flowed through the city’s taps for the past three years, residents say, although officials still try to collect charges, threatening to cut off people who do not pay. “Cut me off, please,” said one resident. “Nothing comes out anyway.” Only about a third of the state’s children attend primary school, and less than a quarter finish it. Only one in five adults can read or write in English, the country’s official language, although by some estimates 70-80% of northerners can read some Arabic. By contrast, in Lagos state four out of five adults can read English.
Such desperate conditions provide ample tinder for ethnic and religious conflict. Nigeria’s population is roughly half Muslim and half Christian, but the faiths are not evenly spread. Muslims...
from The Economist: Special report http://ift.tt/1dMl0oN
No comments:
Post a Comment