Salmah Ja'eh

A failed industrial boom in Kaduna ran one community aground. Decades later, promises of industry have risen again, but the scars linger. Kaduna, the former capital of colonial Northern Nigeria, named for the rivers and crocodiles that once filled its territory, used to be home to an industrial revolution. It was famed for its transport facilities, an abundance of water from the river Kaduna and the presence of raw materials, especially cotton.

A failed industrial boom in Kaduna ran one community aground. Decades later, promises of industry have risen again, but the scars linger. Textile Road, Makera, Kaduna, a relic of past industry. Kaduna, the former capital of colonial Northern Nigeria, named for the rivers and crocodiles that once filled its territory, used to be home to an industrial revolution. It was famed for its transport facilities, an abundance of water from the river Kaduna and the presence of raw materials, especially cotton.

Author: Sada Malumfashi & Salmah Ja'eh Sada Malumfashi & Salmah Ja'eh Sada Malumfashi is a writer and freelance journalist from Kaduna, Nigeria, and a fellow of RSF Germany’s Berlin Scholarship Programme. He focuses mainly on sexual abuse, gender-based violence, and feminism in Nigeria’s conservative northern region. His reports have been published in various media including The Africa Report, Saraba Magazine, This Is Africa, Asymptote and Music in Africa.