Images of Nigeria

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These images of Nigeria were taken mainly in the north of the west African country in 1969 during the Biafra war, in which the Igbo people of the former eastern state attempted to establish their own independent country. The attempt failed and the war ended in 1970. Ian Laval, then Reuters  correspondent in Lagos, went to Maiduguri in Nigeria's far north-east, on the edge of the Sahara bordering Chad and Cameroun.
The area is now the scene of violent attacks by Boko Haram, an Islamic jihadist movement. Thousands of people are reported to have been killed; 200 girls are currently missing, abducted by Boko Haram.
Forty years on, it's unlikely -- given Third World reality and despite a World Economic Forum currently being hosted in the Nigerian capital Abuja -- that life is dramatically different for many ordinary Nigerians since the 70's.
The edge of the Sahara is a harsh environment. These images may help to describe it. They depict  people with unmistakable poise and pride.

Vancouver Island, May 8, 2014




Water. No taps. There's not much of it -- and a long walk ahead

 



Cattle and goat herders in the harsh environment of Borno State (capital Maiduguri)

 



Herdswoman with elaborately hennaed hair.

Man on horse -- Borno state.

 



Village near Potiskum, northern Nigeria

 



Girls with pots -- Benue River, northern Nigeria

Proud mother with daughter -- Benue, northern Nigeria

 



Woman with yam. Benue River

 



Market on the Benue River, northern Nigeria. Vultures roam freely.

 



Going to market. He rides, she walks.

 



Maiduguri, capital of Borno state -- as it was in 1969 pre-Boko Haram.

 



Maiduguri -- pre-Boko Haram

 



 Beobab trees and horned cattle.

 



Laundry by the Benue River, northern Nigeria.

 



From the Biafra war: victims in a camp for Ibo prisoners.

 



Boy in Lagos.

 

 



In a Lagos street

On Lagos beach

 



Walking home in Nigeria's far north. Only one of the four has shoes.

 

  

Boy in Lagos and Hausa soldier.

 



Kano, northern Nigeria.

 



Groundnuts -- staple product of northern Nigeria




Oil burning in the Niger delta. What the Biafra war was largely about -- and what Nigeria is still about in 2014.