Kano

By Barnaby Phillips in Africa on January 22nd, 2012
File 58061
A series of bomb blasts hit the northern city of Kano on Friday, killing at least 178 people [Reuters]

I bumped into an old friend at a book launch in London recently. She used to be a senior British diplomat, and is still involved in African affairs. The conversation quickly turned to Nigeria, a country that we are both passionate about, and that we visit regularly.
"I get the feeling that people in Lagos have been reacting to the violence in Northern Nigeria like we Londoners used to react to news from Northern Ireland during the Troubles of the 1970s and 1980s", she said. 
"They recognise that it's terribly sad, but it all feels so far away for many of them, not something that touches their day to day lives," she said. 
By Haru Mutasa in Africa on January 13th, 2012
Photo by EPA

It's an odd feeling - living with a curfew.

I am in Kano, in northern Nigeria. After protests over the removal of fuel subsidies turned violent, officials here declared a curfew from dawn to dusk.

That means you have no business being on the street during those hours.

So here we are (me and the colleagues I work with) trying to finish up some filming, we have a live crossing to do, an interview with a minister in an hour, and them somehow have to dash back to the safety of our hotel.

It was a nightmare, but we make it just in time.

My problems are minor compared to those who actually live here. I am just passing through.

I went to the market in Kano, one of them anyway, and saw people trying to make a living.

A butcher complained about the rise in prices of basic commodities and how the market is very quiet since the curfew was imposed.

Everywhere I go someone tells me how quiet things are in Kano.

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