IN the bustling marketplace of Marina, a suburb of Sokoto city in Northwest Nigeria, glass bottles and sachets filled with coloured powders and thick pastes line the shelves of multiple stalls.
At one of the busiest shops, Jamilu Bala, a 38-year-old herbal medicine dealer, arranges dozens of such bottles on his shelves, waiting for potential buyers.
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The products popularly known as Kayan Mata, a Hausa term meaning ‘Women Products’, are labelled with seductive names like ‘Persian Sweetness’, ‘River Flow’ and ‘Exclusive Honey Syrup’.