Nigeria, the land of plenty

time for draft, fish can rest The sky brightens progressively turning from grey to pale blue. The line of horizon is filled with large dark-grey clouds. Above my head some elongated clouds have turned to white in high altitude while those a little lower catch their first shade of pink. The illumination of Lekki bridge has just been switched off, it must be around 6.30am. Traffic is light, nonetheless some pick-up trucks carry their loads of construction workers and fill the air with dark exhaust smoke. Probably thirty people squeeze, on the open platform at the back of the truck, around a cement mixer and a few piled up tools. Some of them sit on the platform lid. Truck with passengers look like a truncated pyramid on wheels choking its way up the Lekki Bridge. Coming down will generate less smoke because there will be not need to press the accelerator. Gravity is strong enough for the vehicle to gather speed downwards towards the toll gate. At this hour, there are mor...

throwing nets in circle It is dark, 4AM perhaps. Wooden boats leave Makoko, paddling towards the lagoon. First, they pass under the Third Mainland Bridge, then head towards the middle of the water expanse that separates the Lekki peninsula from the Mainland. Groups of ten boats go fishing together. Each boat carries two people, sometimes three if a younger one joins to observe, learn and help sort out the fishes from the net when it comes out of the water. The person sitting at the back has the responsibility to direct the boat and keep its balance when the one at the front stands and throws the net with a gyrating movement. pulling the nets The fishermen are wearing long sleeves and usually trousers. The wind in the middle of the lagoon can be chilly and one is rapidly wet from the contact with waves and bringing up the net. The fishing routine comes as follows: the group of ten boats decides in which area where they hope to catch fish. They form a circle, wide enough to be a...