From above, Yobe is a patchwork of plots.

Farms near Fika, compounds in Damaturu, open land on the edge of Potiskum. Every one has an owner.

Its boundary is drawn once, on paper.

A surveyor fixes four beacons. The survey plan records the lines between them, to the metre.

Then the plan joins thousands in a drawer.

Files are sorted by hand and found by hand. Paper fades, and folders go missing.

Each drawer becomes rows in one archive.

Every file is scanned, checked and linked to its plot and owner.

Now every plot is one search away.

Plots, owners and their documents, kept together and found by file number, certificate or owner.