I belong to the Tiv ethnic group. We number over four million and live in Central Nigeria, generally called the Middle Belt. I think we are the fourth largest ethnic group after Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. Estimates of the number of ethnic groups in Nigeria vary, with some sources suggesting over three hundred and fi fty. I was born in Kano in the North, where my father was serving as a policeman. I was the third of seven children. My mother Ester (now deceased) came with him to Kano and she worked as a trader. She cooked and sold local food – pounded yam (fufu), rice and beans. We children all helped with cooking, going to market and preparing and selling food under her direction. We started selling very early in the morning and fi nished at one or two. After she counted the takings, I was sent to the bank to deposit whatever profi t there was, after she counted out enough to replenish our food supplies and buy coal for cooking. This was how she made the money to pay our school fees, as education in Nigeria has to be paid for. She had not gone to school herself and was determined that all her children would be educated.