Charlie Herlihy and Sophia Woodcock have been working hard to save money after living in a city on entry-level salaries
Charlie Herlihy and Sophia have been living frugally since their teens(Image: SWNS)
A savvy couple who “never pay full price for anything” by using discount apps and reward offers manage to save £1,600 per year living in London. Charlie Herlihy, 26, and partner Sophia Woodcock, 24, have been living frugally since their teens, and since moving to the capital on entry-level salaries in 2025, have been working out ways to maximise their savings.
They eat out using apps that give huge discounts, choose their energy providers wisely to get the best rewards and use Gold Amex cards to earn points “anywhere” they spend to exchange for luxury perks like plane tickets. In July, the duo were able to save £137.02 from their swaps.
After travelling to South-East Asia for six months after saving £12,000 in just three months in 2022 using their tips and tricks and spending less, their next goal is to afford return tickets to Singapore. Charlie, a graphic designer, from London, says: “Kind of our brand became we never pay full price for anything.
“I think mainly the reason it became a habit is anywhere you go you tap your card without thinking about it. We have a back catalogue of apps on our phones that do deals and discounts and websites we research on first.
“Say we’re planning a weekend we’ll check certain websites for offers and places that are doing different discounts. It takes 15 minutes in the morning but to plan it out is the most cost-effective way of doing it.
“I was used to doing it myself and a lot of people don’t factor it in and go with the flow but you end up spending loads of money without planning. It really does add up.”
Sophia and Charlie have a “portfolio” of methods to ensure they can live frugally, especially on food and drink. Sophia said: “Eating out and coffee is something me and Phi love to do and one of the things we spend on and apps are the best way to save money on a big expense.
“The Paace app rewards you with coffees for getting your steps in. Eat Club gives you discounts at restaurants that don’t have their tables filled.”
They also make use of First Table, an app that often gives you a 50% discount on your food bill if you dine early. The pair try to shop at Sainsbury’s where they can – as Charlie says they have an affiliate with Amex where they can earn four points per £1 spent, as oppose to £1 at other supermarkets.
Lidl Plus is also a go-to, and they will check out the app before hitting the shops to see what’s on offer, as well as making use of Ocado’s 25% off offers.
“We use Octopus energy as it gives you stuff like two for £8 cinema tickets, e-bike rides around London and free coffees for literally paying your bills as you would with every other provider,” Charlie says.
“We use the gold Amex card which gives you points on everything you spend anywhere really. You can build those up and buy flights, stuff like that.
“Our project we’re working towards is return tickets to Singapore. We’ve made it our default card even when tapping on the tube and stuff like that.”
She is also a “big advocate” for checking promotions that come through from restaurants on emails – having recently “paid nothing” after bagging a £15 voucher and cashing in on half price ramen at a restaurant. Charlie said: “We’re not really saving for anything but just to have enough money for freedom in life as we’d love to go to Australia and go travelling again.”
You can follow Charlie and Sophia on TikTok @lifeofphiandcharlie. Charlie and Sophia’s July savings:
Utilities
Octopus Energy
-Cinema trips £11.96 saved
-Free Forats bike hire – 30-minute free session (usual price £10.90)
Food and drink
Paace
-They bought four coffees and saved £16.60 (£8.30 each)
Eat Club
-Went out to dinner using discounts 3 times and saved 30% on one bill (£51.07 became £29.86 saving £11.21)
First Table
-Saved 50% on one saving £23.69 from a £65.38 bill (including the first table £6 booking fee)
London on the Inside
-£88.90 down to £50 with a 50% off offer (with service charge)
Too Good To Go
-Didn’t use this month but normally pick up a £3.99 Gail’s bag worth £15, an £11.01 saving
Banking
The Amex Gold card
-The couple say they make back between 0.05%-1% every time they tap their cards on anything with Avios redeems – which is how nothing they pay for is really ever full price (unless they do not accept Amex). In July, they spent £850 through Amex which equates to £4.25-£12.75 depending on where they redeem their Avios.
They are still saving up for their first fully paid for Avios flight. Also, whenever purchasing anything online they try and do so through the Avios portal – similar to TopCashback – which gives them Avios for free just for buying something through the portal.
Fifth in a series of stories profiling top high school football players by position. Today, Vincent Shields, Murrieta Valley offensive lineman.
For those who love dogs, offensive tackle Vincent Shields of Murrieta Valley High needs to be on your must-invite list. His mother and father run a dog training business. There are five dogs living at their home. All the female dogs are named after Disney characters. Vincent swears dogs can be trained to do anything, like open the refrigerator.
He just got a golden retriever puppy named Nala, the wife of Simba from “The Lion King.” The question is will Shields train her to rush the passer so he can practice his blocking techniques against someone with agility and a hunger to do anything for biscuits?
“That would be a good challenge,” he said.
The football journey of the 6-foot-6, 285-pound junior involves a change of positions, a change in eating habits and a recognition he has found his calling.
“He’s a freak athlete,” former Murrieta Valley offensive line coach Alex Rosenblum said. “That kid has had an amazing offseason.”
Teammates share a laugh with Vincent Shields as he engages in a power lifting exercise.
(Sandy Huffaker / For The Times)
By the end of the summer, Shields was nearing 20 scholarship offers after just one season as an offensive lineman. That’s what happens when college recruiters discover someone with size, good footwork and the ability to improve.
He started at right tackle last season for a school that has been producing outstanding linemen.
“We love to run the ball,” Shields said.
He was a defensive end as a freshman before Rosenblum convinced him to become a blocker. It opened a path that Shields has embraced.
“He told me at the end of my freshman year, ‘You’re going to start and if you make a mistake, it’s OK. Everything is a learning experience.’ I made mistakes and he was supportive,” Shields said.
He has been receiving private instruction to understand his role of blocking specific defenders and adjusting when linebackers blitz. All that was thrown at him as a sophomore, so it was no surprise he had some offside penalties. A year later, there’s no telling how dominant he can become.
“It takes a different person to play O-line,” he said. “It’s violent and that takes a special person. Not everyone is meant for the mental part and physical part. Are you going to take another man against his will and drive him down the field?”
Murrieta Valley offensive tackle Vincent Shields, center, does exercises during practice.
(Sandy Huffaker / For The Times)
Shields said he has been playing tackle football since he was 11. He was primarily a linebacker to take advantage of his athleticism. Then he started to grow and eat and eat.
Those were the days he loved French fries, chips, hamburgers and anything fried. He once ordered three 4×4 burgers from In-N-Out, which is four beef patties and four slices of cheese. He used to order from Chick-fil-A two chicken sandwiches, four chicken strips and 10 chicken nuggets.
Then he learned about nutrition and choices. He’s been eating steak and grilled chicken lately.
“I’ve done a good job shedding the bad weight,” he said.
His father, a former Marine, likes to cook, so everyone is watching Shields’ eating habits. He’s 17 with an appetite like a dog.
And speaking of dogs, the family has Shields’ golden retriever, a Rottweiler named Fancy, a giant schnauzer named Goose and two Belgian Malinois named Hero and Baymax.
That’s enough dogs to form a starting offensive line. But one of them has to beat out Shields, who intends to cause a whole lot of trouble blocking opponents over the next two seasons.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “You’re going to see a jump and a lot of people are going to wonder how it happened.”
All passengers travelling with Ryanair have been told to take action. If they fail to complete a simple task, they could end up having to pay an extra fee at the airport
Ryanair passengers have been told to take action (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)
It’s no secret that holidays can be expensive, and they can be even more costly when extra fees are imposed; however, you can avoid being stung if you follow a simple travel tip. Advice has recently been shared to help Ryanair passengers, as there’s something they need to do before travelling to the airport to fly.
Digital boarding passes and travel documents have become second nature for most travellers, making paper copies largely a thing of the past. But, alongside hidden fees, paperless travel can be one of the most frequent causes of unnecessary expense and holiday headaches.
According to one expert, the most frustrating thing catching holidaymakers off guard isn’t related to digital documents at all, but rather turning up at the airport without having checked in online beforehand. Ryanair levies a £55/€55 airport check-in fee when this occurs.
They’ll print your boarding pass free of charge – the £55/€55 is reported to cover performing the check-in procedure at the airport counter itself. However, prices can occasionally differ depending on your travel route.
The Ryanair website states: “If you do not check in online up to 2 hours before your scheduled departure time, you may check in at the airport up to 40 minutes before departure, but you will be charged an airport check-in fee.
“We urge all passengers to check in online before arriving at the airport so these fees can be avoided.” To help people out generally, some other travel advice has also been shared.
Why paper matters
Mark Finley, Manager and printing expert at Choice Stationery Supplies, said: “Paperless works right up until it doesn’t. A dead battery at the gate, no signal, an app that won’t load – a printed backup costs pence and takes the whole problem off the table.”
A flat battery is an inconvenience. A stolen phone is a disaster. Mobile theft ranks amongst the most widespread crimes targeting foreign visitors, with tourists singled out in airports, on public transport and in bustling city centres.
Lose your phone abroad and you lose your boarding pass, booking confirmations, insurance details and tickets in one fell swoop. Printed copies are the one safeguard that can’t be remotely pickpocketed.
Kept alongside your passport, they’ll see you through check-in, car hire and your hotel while you arrange a replacement handset.
More travel tips
Even when a digital boarding pass is accepted, there are other situations where printed documentation may be required. “Car hire desks, border officials, and some airports still want paper,” explained Mark.
“Finding out in the queue is the most expensive way to learn it.”
Mark advises printing out a number of documents before you head off on your travels. These include:
Car hire voucher
Visa or ETA confirmation, if required
Proof of accommodation
Proof of return or onward travel
Travel insurance details
Prescription letter for any medication you are carrying
You may never need to use them but, if you keep these documents together with your passport, you’ll always have a backup should your phone break down or get lost.
A woman has been arrested by Spanish police as she attempted to board a flight out of the country, having allegedly left a £2,000 hotel bill unpaid
The tourist was led away by police(Image: National Police)
Restaurant owners have complained that “dine and dash” offences are on the increase, with some customers ducking out on bills of hundreds of pounds. But as shocking as those losses are, they are dwarfed by a massive £2,000 bill left unpaid after one family’s 11-night holiday at an all-inclusive resort in the Canary Islands.
Officers of Spain’s National Police have arrested a foreign tourist on suspicion of fraud after she allegedly left a hotel in San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Gran Canaria) without paying for her stay, which was valued at 2,483 euros (£2,125).
In a press release, the National Police explained that hotel managers had reported that a family of two adults and a child had left the premises after an 11-night all-inclusive stay without settling the bill.
The stay had been booked through the resort’s website, and the customers had provided a credit card number as a security deposit. However, when hotel staff attempted to process the bill at the end of the guests’ stay, they were unable to complete the transaction.
Despite making several attempts to contact the customers, no payment was received and police officers were mobilised to intercept the guest as she attempted to leave the country.
Video footage provided by the National Police shows the as-yet-unnamed suspect being arrested at Gran Canaria Airport. After her arrest, the woman was taken to the Maspalomas police station for processing and was subsequently placed at the disposal of the judicial authorities.
The National Police emphasised its commitment to protecting the Canary Islands’ tourism sector and reminded visitors that any attempt to avoid payment for goods or services will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Here in the UK, a 2018 survey found that one in 20 people had walked out without paying for a meal.
Donna Jones, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, told The Daily Mail that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of “dine and dash” offences in recent years.
While some have blamed the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, Ms Jones dismissed that suggestion, saying, “They’re driving away in their own cars.” She urged any businesses affected by crimes of this kind to “share images online … and to name and shame those individuals”.
Kate Nicholls, the CEO of the industry organisation UKHospitality, told the Guardian that while only a minority of customers behaved in this way, incidents of people avoiding paying for meals could be “a serious matter” for the bars and restaurants involved.
“These businesses operate on very tight net-profit margins – less than 4% – and often it can be quite big-spend items that people are going for,” she explained.
Adding that referring to the offences as “dine and dash” escapades trivialised what could be a very serious problem for hospitality businesses: “Let’s call it what it is,” she said. “This is theft and fraud and it should be prosecuted as such. It’s not a victimless crime. It is money that is being taken from a business for goods and services consumed – it’s exactly the same as shoplifting.”
A savvy traveller has shared a clever packing hack to beat Ryanair’s baggage allowance fees on a £15 flight — but it comes with risks if you’re caught at the airport
10:25, 22 Jun 2026Updated 10:25, 22 Jun 2026
You may not get away with it at the airport (Stock Image)(Image: Dmitri Zelenevski via Getty Images)
A clever traveller has taken the internet by storm after unveiling his ingenious trick to outsmart Ryanair’s notoriously rigid baggage rules, which frequently leave holidaymakers shelling out extra cash at the airport.
Rob Adcock, from Stoke-on-Trent, who regularly dishes out budget-conscious travel tips to his online following, has gone viral with his latest scheme to dodge luggage charges on a £15 Ryanair flight — a move that could save passengers a tidy sum given the airline’s hefty fees for additional bags.
In a clip that which now racked up over 2.4 million views from cost-conscious travellers, Rob shows how he managed to squeeze 20kg of luggage aboard without spending a single penny extra, by using a vacuum pack machine to compress his clothes down to a fraction of their original size.
With a laugh, he holds up his squashed clothing and quips: “Look at it.”
He then carefully stuffs the vacuum-packed bundles into his rucksack, which is allowed on board as a complimentary carry-on item, and breezes onto the plane without forking out a penny in hold luggage fees.
The video is captioned “POV: You’ve vacuum-packed all your suitcase to fit into a free Ryanair bag so you don’t have to pay for the hold luggage.”
As well as being a crafty way to sidestep additional costs, it carries the welcome bonus of avoiding the often frustratingly long wait at the baggage carousel on arrival.
Scores of fellow travellers found the cheeky wheeze hilarious, with one crowning it the “packing cube final boss”. However, sceptics pointed out potential drawbacks.
One baffled commenter questioned: “How are you supposed to vacuum it back up before going back on the plane when going home?”
A second chipped in with a laugh: “Vacuum packed stuff is HEAVY,” alongside a pair of laughing emojis.
Meanwhile, one female traveller highlighted the disadvantage that this approach would leave garments “creased” — hardly perfect for anyone wanting to look presentable on their break.
What’s more, you do risk being spotted by Ryanair staff at the airport.
One TikTok user shared: “Literally saw someone get caught doing this in Budapest today. It didn’t end well.”
Ryanair imposes a 10kg restriction on cabin luggage, and being caught out at the weighing scales could result in forking out additional charges for your trip.
It’s a risk that might not always work out — but for this passenger, it proved a success!
WASHINGTON — More than $350 million from President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” has been quietly directed to White House security, an allotment that Democrats warn appears to be helping fund his new ballroom project — despite the president’s insistence that no taxpayer dollars would be used.
The apportionment of funds, which the White House’s Office of Management and Budget made late Friday, comes from two accounts that were intended to provide the U.S. Secret Service with extra money for hiring and training in the aftermath of last year’s assassination attempts on the president, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee. The shift was made days after Congress rejected a $1-billion request for the White House in a Homeland Security bill that Trump signed into law and as the ballroom project is tangled in legal challenges.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, whose panel initially drafted the security funding, said Thursday he was unaware of the allocations.
“The president said that it was all going to be paid for with private money,” said Grassley (R-Iowa). “And that’s what the country expects.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, charged that Trump’s actions are potentially illegal.
“After repeatedly telling the American people that zero taxpayer dollars would be spent on his gold-plated ballroom boondoggle, now Trump appears to be using a smoke and mirrors tactic,” Merkley said in a statement.
“Trump has proven that he can’t be trusted to follow the law,” Merkley said. “He only cares about wasting taxpayer money on his vanity projects.”
Ballroom project hits setbacks
Trump has faced setbacks in his attempts to build the ballroom on the White House grounds, where he ordered the demolition of the storied East Wing to make way for it.
Touring the construction site last month, Trump called the development a “gift” to the American people. He has repeatedly said that it is being paid for by donations — which has also run into ethics questions from watchdogs concerned about potential corruption and conflicts of interest.
Congress refused the Trump administration’s request for $1 billion for the ballroom last month. The administration wanted the money as part of a Homeland Security bill, but Republican and Democratic lawmakers rejected efforts to tack it on. It became politically toxic at a time when Americans are reeling from inflationary high costs of living.
The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the price tag for the project has ballooned to $600 million, according to a project summary prepared by the contractor, with more than half of that funding coming from taxpayers. Roll Call first reported on the apportionment of new funds for White House security.
At its core, arguments are swirling over how much of the White House project is to bolster security underground, with bomb shelters and a medical facility, and how much of the costs are related to the president’s promised 999-seat ballroom on top.
White House says Trump and donors are paying for the ballroom
A spokesman for the White House said that Trump and donors are funding some $400 million for the ballroom development, and that the coordination with the Secret Service had been noted in the initial announcement of the project.
“The East Wing Modernization Project is inextricably tied to the security of the President, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets,” said White House spokesman Davis R. Ingle in a statement.
He said the events over the past weekend, including an alleged attack plan targeting the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, proves why the project is needed.
“President Trump and generous American patriots are funding the ballroom to the tune of approximately $400 million, which will be a secure and appropriate venue for Presidents for generations to come,” he said.
Government lawyers have argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones and missiles.
The White House has said in court documents that the East Wing project would be “heavily fortified,” including bomb shelters, military installations and a medical facility underneath the ballroom. The Secret Service told senators last month that $220 million of the White House’s $1-billion request would go to harden the ballroom addition, with bulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other systems.
The rest of the money would go for other security improvements, according to a document provided to Senate Republicans, including $180 million for a new, “long overdue” White House visitors screening facility.
Congress holds power of the purse
The shifting funds are certain to ignite growing concerns in Congress over the separation of powers, and the president’s use of federal funds allocated by lawmakers.
The money comes from Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill that the president signed into law last summer. It provided more than $1 billion for Secret Service resources, including “personnel, training facilities, programming, and technology; and performance, retention, and signing bonuses.”
The provision was uncontested at the time, even as Democrats voted against the broader bill. Democrats said they did not challenge this section or try to strip it out from the package.
Under the Constitution, only Congress has the specific authority to allocate funds across the federal government, including the executive and judicial branch operations.
While the president holds the power to sign — or veto — those appropriation bills, once the funding becomes law, it largely must stand.
Muhammadu Mahe wasn’t at home when terrorists came for him one rainy night. It was during the rainy season in 2023. He had travelled to sell livestock and spent the night in the Shinkafi area of Zamfara, North West Nigeria.
The following morning, his brother, Alhaji Usman, rang his phone.
“Dan Hajiya, Yan Bindiga came looking for you last night,” Usman said over the phone. The term, Yan Bindiga, is what most rural residents call terrorists in the area. Muhammadu, who is known as Dan Hajiya in his Ruwan Bado village in the Maradun Local Government Area (LGA), did not fully grasp the message, so he asked, and his brother explained succinctly.
Six armed men on three motorcycles had stormed the village and gone straight to Muhammadu’s house. When they were told he was not around, the terrorists asked one of his children to let them know when he returned. They neither fired a single shot nor abducted any of his three wives and 13 children.
“Normally, they would have abducted a family member to force me to look for them, but they didn’t. It was very surprising,” Muhammadu told HumAngle on the afternoon of June 4 in a town in Zamfara, where he now lives with his family.
Hearing about the terrorists’ visit, he wanted to rush home to check if any of his children had been hurt. He had thought the terrorists were targeting him for more extortion. However, his brother advised him to stay in Shinkafi for at least two more days until they could determine the reason the terrorists were looking for him.
Muhammadu now works as a labourer on other people’s farms. Photo: Muhammad Babangida Mafara/HumAngle.
Muhammadu had paid a ₦1.5 million “farming tax” to a terrorist group led by Jamilu, a loyalist of the notorious criminal mastermind, Halilu Sububu, who was killed by the military in 2024. Halilu, originally from Maradun, maintained several camps in the forest reserves in the Sububu/Tubali, Bakura, and Kaya axes. One of such camps is now controlled by Jamilu. Ruwan Bado, Muhammadu’s village, sits not far from Janbako and Faru, two bigger villages in the Talata Mafara town. Terrorist groups routinely attack communities and motorists on the road, a situation that forced several farmers to abandon their farms.
The lingering crisis engulfing northwestern Nigeria began as a farmer-herder clash in Zamfara over a decade ago. Thousands of people have since been killed, with over a million displaced. Motorcycle-riding terrorists invade communities, schools, farmlands, and roads to abduct people for ransom. Terrorist attacks have persisted in the region despite kinetic and non-kinetic approaches.
Amid the ongoing armed violence, farmers are severely affected as terrorist attacks disrupt their agricultural activities. Each year, with the onset of the rainy season, terrorists intensify their attacks on rural communities to intimidate farmers, ultimately seeking agreements that often lead to residents paying millions as taxes. Funds collected from farmers help finance their terrorist activities. Farmers who fail to pay are forced to flee their communities for fear of being attacked by the terrorists. However, even paying the tax does not guarantee safety, as seen in several cases, especially in Zamfara State.
Of recurring attacks and farming taxes
Before the violence escalated in his community, Muhammadu said he had always wondered what he would do without his farms. He is a farmer like his father and grandfather. Everyone in his family is a farmer, including those who have taken government jobs or other businesses. Everyone had a farm before terrorists began to invade their communities.
The day the terrorists came looking for him was not their first time in the village. Before the rainy season in 2023, Muhammadu said, terrorists attacked the village in broad daylight. “I’ll never forget that attack,” he says as he unravels how the ugly event unfolded. And even before then, there were about three attacks.
A little before 3 p.m. on a Friday, he was sitting down outside the mosque with friends and relatives when terrorists barged into the community, shooting sporadically. He didn’t remember much of what happened immediately after he heard the gunshots, but he ran outside the village. “I ran for several minutes and decided to lie down on my stomach,” he says. His wives and some of his children who were at home also ran out.
The attack didn’t last long. When he returned, people had converged on the village square close to the mosque, with three dead bodies lying on the ground. “It was one of the saddest days of my life. My nephew, Haladu, was one of those killed. His mother is my elder sister. Malam Abubakar Jijji and Malam Usman were also killed in that attack.”
The violent incident changed Muhammadu’s life and that of several others in the community. “Our vigilante members said they got information that the terrorists vowed to turn our community upside down if we didn’t cooperate with them. They said what they did was a warning attack,” he says. Cooperating with the terrorists literally means paying taxes to them before farming.
The community leaders would later meet to discuss how to negotiate with the terrorists for peace to reign. “We decided to pay the money. We had no option,” Muhammadu says. The terrorists said anyone with more than one farm must pay ₦1.5 million.
Illustration: Akila Jibrin/HumAngle.
Payment for one farm ranged from ₦400,000 to ₦600,000, depending on the number of acres. His brother, Usman, paid for one farm. The terrorists said the community should not pay the money in a lump sum, but whoever was ready should go and pay their own.
Muhammadu said he sold some of his livestock to raise the “farming tax”. He had volunteered to take the money to the terrorists in the forest. He took his money and that of another villager, Alhaji Sani, who contributed ₦2 million, resulting in a total of ₦3.5 million. The terrorists asked him to wait on the main road after the Faru community. A few minutes after he arrived, two terrorists on a motorcycle emerged from the shrubs, collected the money, and sped off.
That same night, Jamilu, the leader of the terrorists, called to inform them that the money had been collected. He instructed them not to go to their farms and to wait for further instructions. While the residents awaited the next directive, the terrorists arrived looking for Muhammadu.
On the run
Muhammadu didn’t wait in Shinakafi for two days, as his brother suggested.
The following morning, he took the first car from Shinkafi to Boko, and from there, another car to Talata Mafara. He disembarked in Janbako, a community neighbouring his village. He said he was being careful because of informants lurking nearby. While waiting for someone to pick him up, his brother called again, asking him to head to Maradun instead because “they got information that the terrorists would kill me”.
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He spent three days in Maradun and later sneaked back into his village, Ruwan Bado. At home, he gathered his family members, including his daughters, who were already married, and told them about the situation he had found himself in.
“They all agreed that I should leave,” Muhammadu says. “One of my daughters thought it was suicidal to return to the community. So, I left for Talata Mafara in the morning.”
The choice of Talata Mafara was intentional as the town sits on the edge of the Bakalori dam with sprawling farmlands where residents engage in year-round farming. From Colony via Rini down to Gora on one side and River Bobo inside Mafara town down to Tumfafiya to the boundaries of Danbaza, stretches of water lie abundant for irrigation farming.
“I was wrong. I didn’t know that farmers were also fleeing the Rini (in Bakura) and Gora (in Maradun) axis due to incessant attacks. Most of the farms are now abandoned,” he recalls. He moved farther down to the other side of Mafara town, this time to Tsakuwa, a suburb on the road to the communities of Sauna, Garbadu, Morai, and Kagara in southern Mafara.
However, these communities also face terrorist attacks, making the roads and the farms on both sides of the road very vulnerable. This situation compounds Muhammadu’s problems.
“Since then, I’ve not gone back to Ruwan Bado. My family joined me here after three months.”
Even after three years, Muhammadu says he has not looked back because several people he knows have left the community. His elder brother, Usman, has also left for Maradun town with his family because Ruwan Bado and the communities around it have continued to witness terror attacks.
“Even some months back, people were killed in our community as the attacks continued,” Muhammadu says. “I don’t know whether the Yan Bindiga (bandits) are still looking for me, but I think it’s unsafe to go home.” Only a few families remain in Ruwan Bado.
Sani, the person whose farming tax Muhammadu took to the terrorists alongside his, has also left the community for Mafara town. “Even after collecting our money, the terrorists kept returning. There was a time they attacked the community and stole our livestock. I lost more than 10 cows to that attack,” the 63-year-old man told HumAngle.
Muhammadu said he heard about the attack last year and advised Sani to leave the community. Sani was one of the three well-to-do people in the area. Life was good to him; he had three wives and 17 children, some of whom were already married. Aside from owning five farm fields, he was a trader and livestock merchant before the violence consumed his property. He sold some of his livestock out of fear of cattle-rustling terrorists and retained only the animals he used for ploughing on his farms.
“I encouraged our people to accept the terrorists’ demand for farming tax, believing that we would be allowed to go to the farm. But after we paid, the terrorists allowed us to start working, after which they continued attacking us. It was very unsafe for me to continue living in the community,” Sani, who now lives with his family in a rented apartment in Mafara, said. He has tried, to no avail, to gather the remnants of his wealth to start a business in the town but he said “it’s frustrating because the capital is too small and I don’t even know where to start from.”
As Muhammadu continues to flee, many farmers in the region are suffering from terrorist attacks, especially with the onset of the rainy season in the core northern states. The situation in communities like Ruwan Bado is worsened by a lack of adequate security agents to protect residents. Since there is an absence of conventional security forces in most of the communities, residents pay a farming or protection tax as requested by terrorists to avoid being attacked.
‘There was only a road checkpoint for soldiers on the Colony – Boko road, which is even farther away from us. Without adequate security agents, it’ll be difficult for us to go to farms or markets. When the terrorists attack, it’s only the vigilante group members who fight them back,” Muhammadu said. HumAngle learnt that the Zamfara State government recruited operatives for its Community Protection Guards (also known as Askarawa) and posted them to all communities facing security challenges in the state. But Muhammadu, who left Ruwan Bado in 2023, couldn’t confirm if there are Askarawa in his community now.
James Barnett, a conflict researcher at Hudson Institute, believes terrorists are using the vacuum created by the absence of governance in some of the rural communities in North West Nigeria. The terrorists believe it’s easier and more profitable to enforce levies than to attack communities. “Communities that have no protection from the state often have no choice but to submit to bandit demands in order to be allowed to farm—and survive,” he said.
“The regions where bandits are strongest are the sorts of areas where there has been almost no meaningful state presence in years—roads, schools, clinics and the like. Bandits have essentially filled a vacuum in those parts of rural Nigeria that the state has neglected,” Barnett, who has written extensively on the banditry conflict in the North West, added.
The consequences of this reality are evident in communities, where residents say concerns about survival and security now overshadow everyday economic worries.
“Many villages in Tsafe are no longer thinking about where to get the cheapest fertiliser; instead, they are worried about how to access their farms safely. In some communities, despite paying ransoms and levies to the terrorists, locals are still not confident that their lives will be spared,” Abubakar Bala, a resident of Tsafe in Zamfara, told HumAngle.
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A fast-growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has crossed borders, raising alarms far beyond Central Africa. This time, the virus is a strain with no approved vaccine or treatment. As cases rise and governments scramble to respond, can the outbreak be contained before it spreads further?
In this episode:
Catherine Soi (@cate_soi), Al Jazeera Correspondent
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé and Sarí el-Khalili with Spencer Cline, Tamara Khandaker, Jana Dabliz, and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Tamara Khandaker.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Rick Rush mixed this episode. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer.
