In September 2016, YNaija.com launched a series called ‘We Survived Boko Haram’. The series was part of a larger goal of ours here at YNaija.com, to focus on telling the stories people don’t hear from across the country.

The following month’s ‘Blood Money’ special saw a series of pieces, telling the stories of people from the Niger Delta region, living daily with the realities that so much of the country still has little understanding about.

And last month, our #InnovationSeries celebrated the enterprise and creativity of young people in Nigeria today.

This month, we cast a critical eye on the current herdsmen-related conflicts that have claimed the lives and property of so many, and continue to threaten the security of citizens.

Much has been said of the crisis. From the political to the religious, many perspectives have been offered. But ‘Herdsmen Hazards’, as the series is called, is concerned, before anything else, with the people. As we have said, and will continue to say, people matter.

This was the mandate of our reporter, whose journey took him from the South East to the Mid-Belt region of Nigeria, from Ebenator-Ekwe in Imo, Nimbo in Enugu, to Agatu in Benue, not only hearing stories about the dead, but meeting those who survived the brutal attacks, and attempting to find out how they endeavour to move on with their lives in the aftermath of a conflict the rest of the country still, largely, knows very little about.

These stories, of the very real people behind the headlines and hot-takes, of the ones who make up the statistics we barely have time to give a second thought to, of the ones who live with these horrors daily, are what we will be sharing everyday over the next week, beginning with a first installment today.

Thank you for continuing on this journey with us.

Thank you for believing, like we do, that citizens matter.

Lekan Olanrewaju
Editor
Y!/YNaija.com

—–

See the first of the series here and find the reporters introduction here. 

Editor