When France held a memorial service for victims of the November Paris attacks, television channels in Nigeria broadcast it. The ceremony came a day before the first anniversary of a similar attack in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, writes Aminu Abubakar, AFP's correspondent based there.

In the Kano attack, at least 120 people were killed and hundreds more injured after gunmen opened fire on Muslim faithful who had just begun their Friday prayers at the city's mosque. Suicide bombers then blew themselves up among the fleeing crowds.

"But unlike in Paris, the names and photographs of the victims haven't been published in newspapers or broadcast around the world. The date of the attack hasn't been seared into the national consciousness. In fact, 12 months on, we're still not exactly sure how many lost their lives.

"On the eve of the anniversary, as television showed the French memorial, it was business as usual in Kano, apart from prayers for peace at mosques across the city. The president didn't visit, there were no cabinet ministers, military or first responders from the scene standing with their heads bowed as the national anthem played."