ABSTRACT
The children of former KTL workers who have died have had various responses to their fathers’ death. Those old enough to remember often have fond memories of their fathers and were influenced by them. Some have found work, some are schooling, some have married, and some farm plots on the outskirts of Kaduna. A very few have gone to farm in their home villages. Thus, their experiences of their fathers’ deaths after they lost their jobs at the KTL mill vary, depending on their mothers’ and extended families’ circumstances as well as their own actions. For children who have become involved in drugs and the drug trade, the association of drugs with unemployment and lack of opportunities following the closure of many of the textile mills in Kaduna reflects a global connection between deindustrialization and drug use among the young. The consequences of deindustrialization in Kaduna, Nigeria, for the lives of children after the loss of their fathers have also been experienced by families of former mill workers in the US. Their related experiences of suffering and shared support contrasts with the distinctive history of deindustrialization in Nigeria, which shapes their future prospects.
