Naphtali Festus Adda

80–25, an Archivi.ng Fellowship project by @FestusAdda, documents 45 years of organised violence in Northern Nigeria as a continuous, evolving phenomenon.

Every crisis has its own story. But what happens when you put 45 years of them side by side? 80-25 by @FestusAdda is a digital archive of insecurity in Northern Nigeria from 1980 to 2025. It is an attempt to look beyond individual events and see the patterns across decades.

In 1994, P.M. News reported that 90 inmates at Kirikiri Prison in Lagos died from malnutrition and starvation in just six months. The newspaper reported, "This figure probably makes the mortality rate of prisoners in Kirikiri the highest all over the world. The report alleges that the inmates are not being well fed. Prison officials are said to collude with food contractors to deprive inmates of their meagre ration. "In May alone, 36 emaciated bodies of prisoners were taken out of Kirikiri Prison for burial. Sometimes, the dead are left among the living for two to three days before they are disposed of."

Meet the research fellows: Ameze Belo-Osagie (@mezbeloo) and Festus Naphtali Adda (@FestusAdda)

For six months, the second cohort of The Archivi.ng Fellowship has been digging into Nigeria’s history, and our six fellows have developed new stories, built new tools and produced original research. Soon, it will be time for you to experience them all.

In 1991, a 26-year-old Lagos technician claimed he had built a device that could catch cable and streetlight thieves. Kenneth Ettoh, a Yaba College of Technology graduate, said he developed the anti-theft device after vandals repeatedly stripped streetlights in Ijeshatedo of aluminium parts and bulbs in 1989, leaving the area in darkness. He unveiled the invention at the National Engineering Week/SPARESTECH '91 exhibition in Lagos, where it attracted visitors including former Head of State Olusegun Obasanjo and Works and Housing Minister Major General Mamman Kontagora. The device, which earned Ettoh a National Certificate as Nigeria's Most Outstanding Invention of 1990, fitted inside streetlight poles and combined a control unit with an anti-vibration fuse, transformer, resistors, cables and a modified car horn. Ettoh said the basic version cost about ₦60 to produce. He said any attempt to cut or disconnect protected property would trigger a loud alarm, automatically dial the police through a built-in telephone line and, if necessary, release a 240-volt electric current to immobilise the thief. Although he said the electrocution feature could be removed, Ettoh argued the device itself could not easily be stolen because it was sealed inside the pole. He developed the invention after leaving FIIRO and Data and Information Services (DIS), hoping to patent and commercialise it.

Every day for the rest of May, we’re revisiting the issues Nigerians debated in newspapers and magazines this month over 50 years ago. Today, we revisit a 1966 debate over why some Nigerian men living abroad were marrying white women.