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We’re conducting a short study on how creators’ work is used, shared and licensed online. We’re particularly interested in what happens after creative work is published: where it appears, how creators discover those uses, and what happens when work is used without their knowledge or permission.

Complete the survey in 5 minutes or less below:

The Mysterious Population of Nigeria ⚡

Since 2006, Nigeria has not conducted a nationwide population census. And for two decades, a country positioned as the most populous in Africa has governed itself, built infrastructure, and managed economic forecasts without knowing its true numbers.

In our latest story, PhD researcher Dawn Chinagorom-Abiakalam () examines the central paradox of Nigeria’s demographic story. Tracing how census counts became deeply politicized tools for political power and revenue allocation, Chinagorom-Abiakalam explores what happens when a state operates in statistical darkness and whether modern technologies like satellite imagery and mobile network data can ever truly replace physical ground-truth data.

Every week, The Republic produces carefully reported stories grounded in the belief that African lives are central to understanding the world. Support that journalism by subscribing for less than ₦1K/$1 a week: rpublc.com/subscribe.

Read the full story at the link in our first comment.
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📝: Dawn Chinagorom-Abiakalam
🎨: Illustration by Toluwalase Onilede / THE REPUBLIC.
🔍: Ijapa O, Peace Onafuye, Wale Lawal; Editors.

‘I, Too, Am Japa-ing’ ⚡

At 37, former almajiri Nasiru sold his motorcycle and crossed into the Sahara. He grew up washing dishes in exchange for food in a household in Sokoto. Decades later, a collapsing naira, encroaching bandits and a country that offered him little pushed him into Harouba, a gold-mining town on the Mali-Algeria border controlled by an al-Qaeda affiliate. There, sifting gold from truckloads of sand, he found money he'd never seen at home and some trouble too.

Historian and doctoral student at Northwestern University, Umar Yandaki, who grew up alongside Nasiru in that same Sokoto household, tells his story.

Every week, The Republic produces carefully reported stories grounded in the belief that African lives are central to understanding the world. Support that journalism by subscribing for less than ₦1K/$1 a week: rpublc.com/subscribe.

Read the full story at the link in our first comment.
_____________________________________
📝: Umar Yandaki
🎨: Photo Illustration by Toluwalase Onilede / THE REPUBLIC.
📷: 1) Nasiru (first from the right) and his friends in Harouba. Photo courtesy of the author.
2)Nasiru at work in Harouba. Photo courtesy of the author.
🔍: Ijapa O, Peace Onafuye, Wale Lawal; Editors.

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Visual artist and illustrator Shalom Ojo (SÁR) depicts the social life of money across Africa on the cover of The Republic Vol. 10, No. 3 choosing instantly recognizable figures anyone, from a Lagos market to an airport lounge, could name in seconds. It’s her latest for The Republic, following two previous covers. She speaks about treating each cover as a story rather than a single image, and her influences from Caravaggio to Kerry James Marshall.

Learn more ‘the Nairaverse’ and our August — October 2026 issue, Africa’s Hustle Republics issue via the link below:

'Africa’s Hustle Republics' explores the social life of money across Africa. From weddings and agriculture to migration, finance and informal economies, this issue examines the many ways Africans make, move, perform and imagine money.

Africa’s Hustle Republics | The Republic V10 N3 Discover Africa’s Hustle Republics, The Republic’s August–October 2026 issue exploring African economies, culture, money, migration, weddings, agriculture and informal economies through essays, fiction, interviews and art.

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