Katangua Market: Immigrant Workers

Abdu Tanimu Dept: A series of raids by Nigerian authorities in recent days has brought fear to Katangua Market in Lagos, where immigrant labour makes the market thrum amid piles of secondhand clothes, shoes, purses and other accessories that are laid along narrow dirt alleyways. Immigrant workers, who come largely from neighbouring Niger to the north, are finding themselves targeted by security agencies anxious about a growing Islamic extremist insurgency in northern Nigeria that could spread southward, according to Calgary Herald. "If they come here and arrest me and I don't have my papers, I don't know what's going to happen," said Abdu Tanimu, a leader of Nigeriens working in the market. "I don't know what's going on out there." LAGOS, Nigeria - The buses crammed full of young men leave each afternoon from this busy market in Nigeria's largest city, some with bruises around their faces and cuts on their arms. Nigeria's porous borders and corrupt bureaucracy allow people to enter the country, giving extremists the chance to freely move and avoid capture. But those same borders give those living in poverty in neighbouring countries a chance to earn money. Now even immigrants with proper travel documents worry they'll be rounded up as well. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.