Ruth McDowall

Photographer
Scar Tissue
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Nationality: New Zealander
Biography: Â Ruth McDowall (1984) was born in Taranaki, New Zealand. She completed a BFA at Elam School of Fine Arts in New Zealand. In 2008 she visited Nigeria and returned in 2010 to set up a project empowering at risk youth by teaching them the skill of... MORE
Public Story
Scar Tissue
Copyright Ruth McDowall 2024
Updated Jan 2014
Topics boko haram, conflict, nigeria

While living in Nigeria during 2010 many of my close friends were closely affected by the crisis in Plateau state. I also nearly became a victim during a series of bombings on Christmas Eve in Jos. After these experiences I began to document the escalating conflict, capturing the day-to-day realities and the deep impact it has had on peoples lives.

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Nigeria: the Giant of Africa is the most populated country on the continent. Despite an abundance of oil reserves, a high level of corruption and poor governance causes most of the country to live in poverty.

The conflict in northern Nigeria is a complicated mix of ethnic, political and religious division, as well as economic disparities and impunity. All of these elements have created a fertile ground for Islamist insurgents to rise up and make it their mission to transform Nigeria into an Islamist state. They are far from achieving that, however constant attacks on places of worship, security services, schools and civilians have destabilized the north and drained state economies. Many people are fleeing Borno and Yobe state. The number of internally displaced people is on the rise and going unnoticed as they blend into other urban areas.

Thousands of military have been deployed and have a challenging task to stabilize the North. They have been accused locally and internationally of making the situation worse, and mistrust of security forces is high. Fathers and young men sleep with one eye open. Civilians live in fear and take the law into their own hands. People have been reduced to pawns in political power games. Everyone in the North has been affected. Life has become cheap, and hearts have hardened.


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