A BOY, about 12 approached   my car as I stopped at a traffic light in Abuja. It was difficult to guess when last he might have had a bath. His bushy hair might not have felt the touch of a comb in a long while. When I looked more closely at him as he asked for alms, he was a beauty; like gold in a mud. I asked him his name. “Abdullahi.”  His surname? “Abinchi.” That means food in Hausa. So I explained what I was enquiring. He replied: “Abinchi.”  He was not smiling, so it wasn’t a joke. But I was convinced that could not be his surname. It might simply mean the reality he faces; hunger.

The post That people will have so little to eat appeared first on Vanguard News.

And so, for 12 days, he raised about N1, 900, through alms begging, out of which, on his return to Offa, he paid N520 for his admission at the Erin-Ile school

The post I begged for alms on Lagos streets to raise N520 school fees – Kamaldeen, lawyer appeared first on Vanguard News.

No-one in north-east Nigeria doubts the bravery of the vigilantes. They have helped immensely in putting Boko Haram on the back foot.
But unless their sacrifices are recognised, they could end up presenting a new security threat

The post ESAMA @ 83: I sold kerosene as a houseboy – Chief Gabriel Igbinedion appeared first on Vanguard News.

No-one in north-east Nigeria doubts the bravery of the vigilantes. They have helped immensely in putting Boko Haram on the back foot.
But unless their sacrifices are recognised, they could end up presenting a new security threat

The post We fought well-armed Boko Haram terrorists with one bullet- Civilian JTF appeared first on Vanguard News.