Nigeria, April 18 -- This week, I wanted to write again on the recent killings amongst Nigerians on the basis of ethno-religious divides but felt a deep sense of fatigue. I have been doing it for decades and the problems are getting worse, not better. Fed up with the Nigerian humans, I thought I should write on the easier task of unifying our goats. The idea was from our houseworker who just lost a relation and was directed to provide nine goats for the funeral ceremony. She told me that the instruction came with a clear conditionality - the goats must be proper southern goats, and northern goats will not be accepted. Sigh. Nigerians!

Then I remembered that my university in Zaria, Ahmadu Bello, had a scientific project in the 1980s to pr...