Geo answer

Look both ways before you answer today’s Geo Quiz.

Motorcycle taxis in NigeriaMotorcycle taxis in Nigeria

Nigeria roads and highways there are notoriously dangerous. Motorcycle taxis called okadas are part of the problem. They go too fast, drivers often don’t wear helmets, and they’re considered a menace by many motorists. But they’re the cheapest way to get around Nigeria’s crowded cities.

Motorcycle taxis in NigeriaMotorcycle taxis in Nigeria

We’re looking for one of those cities, Nigeria’s third largest city in area — after Lagos and Ibadan. But it’s the second most crowded with a population of close to 4 million. We’ll tell you about some ingenious efforts by taxi bikers there to get around Nigeria’s new motorcycle helmet law.

First name this northern Nigerian city.

The answer to our Geo Quiz today takes us to Nigeria.

Nigeria: http://www.the commonwealth.org/YearbookHomeInternal/138917/Nigeria: http://www.the commonwealth.org/YearbookHomeInternal/138917/

More than 4,000 people die on Nigeria’s roads every year and 20,000 are injured, according to the Federal Road Safety Commission. Road safety authorities say almost every collision in Nigeria’s cities involves motorcycle taxis called okadas. So a new law requiring motorcycle taxi drivers and passengers to wear helmets went into effect January 1st. The problem is that helmets cost too much for the average taxi biker, and often stolen. To get around the law, okada drivers in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, have been seen donning everything from paint cans to pumpkins to comply with the new helmet law.

Kano, the capital and administrative center of the Nigerian state of Kano, is the answer to our Geo Quiz.

Kano. NigeriaKano. Nigeria

Listen to our interview with the BBC’s Andrew Walker in Nigeria’s capital Abuja: