Nation Builders Magazine

By Faruk Ahmed In a community‑focused event to mark the global  Make a Difference Week , two non‑governmental organisations –  Asabsah Success Initiative  and  Arraayah Orphans Foundation  – donated seedlings and seeds to over thirty women in Jimeta, Yola, Adamawa State. The initiative, which took place over the weekend at Arraayah Orphanage at 52 Gerio Street, Jimeta, Yola, was part of worldwide activities celebrating the 2026 World Environment Day with a focus on climate action and ecological restoration. During the event, the organisations distributed seedlings of  Jatropha curcas  – a drought‑tolerant plant whose seeds produce oil that can be used as a renewable biofuel – and  Gembu tomatoes , a variety suited to local growing conditions. The gesture aims to support sustainable livelihoods and build resilience against climate change.   Beneficiaries overjoyed Hajiya Salamatu Mohammed, who leads Asabsah Success Initiative, shar...

By Faruk Ahmed A video is circulating on the internet. You may have seen it. Two women – Nigerians, our sisters – are stripped naked on a major thoroughfare in South Africa. They are beaten, bloodied, repeatedly kicked in the stomach and in their genitals. The violence is recorded on camera by a laughing mob. Cars and motorcycles whiz by. No security officer stops. No siren approaches. This happened in broad daylight. This is not the first time Nigerians are being attacked in South Africa. In 2008, 2015, and 2019, waves of xenophobic violence swept through the country. Nigerians were among the hardest hit. Now, in 2026, it is happening again. At least two Nigerians are dead – one beaten to death by South African military personnel, another found dead in the Pretoria Central Mortuary after an “interaction” with metro police. And what has our government done? Summoned South Africa’s Acting High Commissioner. Scheduled a bilateral meeting. Issued a statement of condemnation. Demanded auto...

By Faruk Ahmed If you ever want to test your patience, your sanity, and your faith in humanity, try registering an NGO in Nigeria. Not a business name – that’s a different nightmare. No, I mean an Incorporated Trustees – the kind that lets you do charity, advocacy, and community work. We did it. Took six months and six rejections. But we finally got our name approved. Here is what we learned – the hard way – so you don’t have to..   Lesson 1: Lawyers are expensive, but AI is deceptive If you have the budget, hire a lawyer. If you are like us – a group with a shoestring budget – you do it yourself. We turned to AI. It wrote a beautiful constitution. Aims and objectives that would make any philanthropist weep. But CAC rejected it. Twice. Why? Because AI does not know that “advocacy” and “campaigns” are red flags for the Corporate Affairs Commission. It does not know that “civic mobilisation” sounds like a protest group. It does not know that hashtags belong on Twitter, not in legal d...

By Faruk Ahmed On March 16, 2026, a suicide bomber detonated in Maiduguri’s Post Office area. The blast killed dozens. Among the dead were four young boys – Almajirai – who had gone out to beg for their daily meal. Their teacher, Ibrahim Goni, wept on Trust TV:  “I have seven of them. They all went out that day. Three returned home. Four didn't. We found their bodies in the teaching hospital. I wasn't myself for days.” He had mentored those children for years. They lived in his household. He fed them, taught them the Qur’an, and sent them to the streets with plastic bowls. That day, they walked into hell. This is not just a story of poverty. It is a story of  radicalisation waiting to happen .   The bloody roots The connection between the Almajiri system and violent extremism is not accidental. It is historical. Muhammad Marwa , known as  Maitatsine , was a preacher who raged against radios, watches, bicycles, and the Nigerian state. He attracted a fo...

By Faruk Ahmed You can imagine how you would feel if your nose and mouth were shut forcefully with a pillow by an attacker. Your soul would feel like it was departing—from your legs, to your stomach, through your neck, out of your head, and up to heaven. This is exactly what telecommunications companies like Airtel and MTN are doing to Nigerians. Slowly. Systematically. With impunity.   The collapse Starting from Sunday, March 15, 2026, my Airtel line began to stutter. It would connect intermittently—a message here, a notification there—then fade into silence. I assumed it was a temporary glitch. By Monday, it was gone completely. No WhatsApp. No email. No access to the websites I rely on for work. By Wednesday, March 18, it became clear that this was not a glitch. It was a collapse. I borrowed my wife's MTN line to get back online. It worked—but not perfectly. Calls dropped. Data fluctuated. I tried to port my Airtel line back to MTN. The local operator told me I would have to vis...

By Faruk Ahmed On December 24, 2016, I climbed into an Audi 4x4 at Kwanar Dawaki motor park in Kano. The driver was a soldier returning from the Sambisa battleground. The seats were cushy. Music blared. Cool air hit my face. I thought I was riding to heaven. I was heading to my hometown, Jattu in Edo State, for a cousin's wedding. The park was chaotic with Christmas travellers, and fares had skyrocketed. Then this soldier appeared, heading to Akwa Ibom, offering rideshare. He would pass close to my destination. I did my due diligence, paid, and hopped in. There were already four passengers. I became the fifth. Three days later, I was still on the road. The car broke down constantly. We spent hours fixing it. The soldier could barely drive. Somewhere past Abuja, I took the wheel and drove us most of the way to Akwa Ibom. (How I ended up in Akwa Ibom instead of Edo is a story for another day.) But the worst nightmare came somewhere past Lokoja. Night had fallen. We approached a check...