The SolutionsPaper

A VSLA meeting. Photo Credit: Olatunji Olaigbe By Olatunji Olaigbe and Elvis Guoza The global chocolate industry makes over $130 billion in annual revenue, but the West African farmers who cultivate nearly 70% of the world’s cocoa often survive on less than $2 (2900 naira) a day. This difference has fueled one of the most persistent human rights crises of our time: widespread child labour in the cocoa fields of Côte d’Ivoire.

Chocolate is one of the world’s biggest reasons for deforestation, and a small initiative in Nigeria is trying to change that By Olatunji Olaigbe and Muhammed Bello CALABAR, NIGERIA: Oban is at least a four-hour drive from Calabar, the capital of Cross River. Like most of Cross River, it’s made up of a lowland rainforest. Yet, Cross  River is also one of  Nigeria’s largest producers of cocoa. These two things clash.

By Ojo Sola KADUNA, NIGERIA: *Aisha Bello, 16, was working as a househelp to a family in Rigachikun, when she began a romantic relationship with her colleague. The relationship turned sour two months in when she became pregnant. The father of her unborn child pressured her to carry out an abortion but Aisha wouldn’t budge. While her family accepted her back, Aisha suffered emotional shaming until she gave birth in September 2024.

KANO, NIGERIA: Every year, during Eid al-Adha, also called big Sallah, Yusuf Abubakar buys a cow or ram in commemoration of the Muslim festive period, but this changed in 2018. His grocery business saw a drastic decline in sales that impacted how his family celebrated festive seasons. They began to rely on local chickens, which they reared at their home.

EDO, NIGERIA: One afternoon in April 2024, Jessyking Alabi, 21, went out to power his mobile phone. He became more dependent on the mobile phone since he completed his final exams. Living in a neighborhood where power supply was epileptic meant the recent secondary school graduate had to source other means. Unfortunately, little did he know he would not go back home that day. “I had gone out to charge my phone after the light in our house was interrupted for days.

KATSINA, NIGERIA: It was a cold, breezy morning in April 2023 when Ma’aru Ishak, 15, embarked on what he called his longest adventure. The journey took about 40 km from his village, Gidan Mashi, in the Mashi Local Government, Katsina State, to Mallam Muhammad Ahmed’s Tsangaya school in the same state. “I slept and slept over and over again, but each time I asked my father, he’d say we’re not even halfway,” he recounted.

LAGOS, NIGERIA: On September 9, 2023, Akpan’s* household, which includes his wife and two daughters, experienced a cooking gas explosion in their kitchen that caused severe burns. This was not only a terrible incident but they would also undergo the pain of being rejected for treatment in several hospitals, as well as the ones in the Ikorodu area where they lived. “Within one week, we were rejected by seven hospitals, and the wounds kept getting worse,” Akpan said.

By Elizabeth Kah Nange BAUCHI, NIGERIA: On December 12, 2007, amidst the smoke and chaos of a horrifying inter-religious clash between Muslims and Christians in Yelwa Kagadama community, Bauchi State, Hussein Yahaya, 43, recalled being instructed by his father to stay at home with the family. Despite the warning, Yahaya became a victim of the violence.

ISTANBUL, TÜRKİYE: For Songül, a 2019 high school graduate, the first thing that comes to mind when she thinks of the Koruncuk Foundation is family. “This place is my safe haven. No matter what I experience outside, I always know that I’ll be okay here,” she said. While public education at all levels is free in Türkiye, other supplementary costs such as transportation, stationeries and school meals are to be borne by students or guardians. Sometimes this proves difficult and they have to drop out.

By Chinonso Kenneth LAGOS, NIGERIA: * Emerald Johnson, 41, was utterly confused and devastated after she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Before her diagnosis, Emerald, a medical laboratory technician in Lagos had no prior knowledge of PD. “I felt I was the only one with this medical condition [because] when I was diagnosed, I didn’t know anybody as young as me who had Parkinson’s or someone who even had Parkinson’s, I only watched them on [television],” Emerald said.