Nigeria

One in six Africans is Nigerian, and the country behaves accordingly - enormous, plural, ungovernable in the best sense. Lagos is less a city than a condition. The Niger Delta is a landscape of extraordinary ecological complexity and political tragedy, often simultaneously. In the northeast, Kano's old city has been trading since the tenth century. Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa: three civilisations sharing a map drawn by someone else. Nigeria demands engagement on its own terms, and the return on that engagement is substantial.

Our guide is being written from the ground up, with the time this place deserves.

We are still gathering the notes that make a guide worth keeping: Lagos island neighbourhoods, Kano's ancient markets, suya spots and the roads between cities that tell the country's real story.