March 2025 Recap: Patterns, New Milestones, and Unresolved Issues

Inside: A question about the history of Nigeria's problem-solving skills.

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This dispatch starts with a question that's always bugged me, so I want to make it your problem.

What is one significant problem Nigeria has solved since 1960?

Time and again, whenever I go through the archives, what seems like today's urgent crises usually turn out to be forgotten old battles resurfacing.

Last month, I stumbled upon a 1994 story about the NYSC scheme. Some corps members in Lagos boycotted their passing-out parade, protesting what they called a "nightmare" year—poor pay, slum-like accommodation, and being treated as cheap labour.

A decade later, in 2004, corps members in Zamfara went a step further, holding government officials hostage over unpaid allowances of ten months. By 2008, members in Gombe were still making the same complaints—no salaries and allowances from their places of primary assignment.

Ask corps members in 2025, and you'll hear the same old frustrations.

So, let me ask again: what is one significant problem Nigeria has actually solved post-independence? If you have an answer, you must tell me.

Archivi.ng exists to capture the cycles and the shifts, the way history repeats but also evolves. That's why March wasn't just about looking back but also about laying the groundwork for what comes next.

What Happened in March 2025

As last month wrapped up the first quarter of the year, it became clear that the work ahead for us isn't just about maintaining momentum but also about scaling our efforts in a deliberate, strategic way.

That's Why We're Keen on Expanding the Team

• In the March update, I mentioned our push to reduce reliance on volunteer efforts for core operations. That means bringing in the right people to make our work more efficient and sustainable. In March, we focused on filling three key roles: operations lead, designer, and archiving operations intern. We received some outstanding applications and are close to filling those roles.

Digitisation Is Still At A Crawling Pace, But That Will Change Soon

• While our own digitisation efforts slowed last month, we supported partners with their archival needs.

• As part of our collaboration with the June Creative Art Advisory (JCAA), we scanned 800 pages of New Culture magazine.

• We also processed 1,300 pages of Newswatch at the request of a reporter from the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ).

• We're set to resume digitisation more seriously this month. I'm currently obsessed with the copies of Flamingo magazine I found in the archives and look forward to when we can provide access for you to read them too.

Our Best Month of Sensemaking

• For International Women's Day, we set out to answer a simple but important question: what would we uncover if we traced Nigerian history through the women who shaped it? The result was a defining feature spotlighting 100 Nigerian women who deserve more recognition, a story that resonated far beyond our platforms.

• Nearly 300k people viewed it on Instagram. Many people found personal connections with the women on the list, recognising their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and mothers-in-law among the names. Someone found both her mother and grandmother on the list and we didn't even realise the connection until she messaged us.

• Nearly 4,000 people shared these women's stories, passing them along to their own audiences in the hundreds of thousands. Hollywood star, David Oyelowo, was one of them.

• The success of this feature wasn't just in the numbers—it was in the sense of wonder, discovery, and long-overdue recognition it sparked. And it wouldn't have travelled as far without strategic distribution partnerships. Culture Custodian, Document Women, gst, NativeMag, and Zikoko played a key role in pushing these names into wider view, ensuring that more people saw, learnt from, and celebrated the impact of these women.

What We Did For Women

• March was all about women: their histories, images, everyday lives, and extraordinary feats. We filled the month with stories that spanned four centuries, from archival snapshots to deep dives into moments that shaped and defied expectations. The response spoke for itself.

• Women made up the larger share of our engaged audience on Twitter, rising from 34% in February to 60% in March, a shift that reshaped how conversations unfolded on our timeline.

• Instagram delivered our best month yet: nearly 400k views, 16.6k likes, and over 1.2k new followers.

• On TikTok, we racked up 81k views and over 2.8k likes, reflecting the steady traction we're building on the platform.

Where We Stumbled: The Archivist

• Last month didn't completely go as planned. We were meant to wrap up Issue Three of The Archivist, publishing six stories, but only managed two. That leaves four to carry over into the new quarter, right when we should be launching a fresh issue. But these stories are worth it, and there are still remarkable feats of Nigerian women to highlight. So, before diving fully into the next issue, we'll make sure they get the spotlight they deserve.

What's Next: April 2025

We've experienced a slow start with digitisation and access this year, but we’ve used the time to refine our internal systems and lay the groundwork for long-term success. April is about escaping the rut and accelerating the facilitation of access to more archival materials.

Meanwhile, the first cohort of The Archivi.ng Fellowship has reached its midway point, moving closer to delivering on our promise to enhance the world's understanding of Nigerian history. So far, our fellows have been focused on building the foundations of their projects and shaping their stories. Shalom has been documenting his experience in monthly drops, and I now find myself always looking forward to his insights.

The final three months will push all of us in new ways, but we expect it to be a period of intense growth and productivity. We're in the endgame now.

Yesterday's Price…

In Nigeria, the rising cost of living is something every household feels. Personally, the constant price shifts leave me dizzy every two business days. Lately, while digging through the archives, I've been struck by how much prices have changed over the past three decades.

Throughout April, we'll be sharing archival records from newspapers that track the cost of food, rent, fuel, and transportation over the years. Maybe it'll make you nostalgic for the "good old days," or maybe it'll just make you gnash your teeth in frustration. Either way, the aim is to spark public reflection, drive conversations on economic policy, and deepen our understanding of Nigeria’s financial trajectory. You’ll find these snapshots of history on our Twitter every single day in April.

And all of this is building up to an exciting project we've been working on, but you'll have to wait for the next dispatch to hear about it.

See you on May 1.