A NIGERIAN herdsman who discovered an 8500-year-old canoe has asked his local government to build him a house next to where the ancient relic is kept, the News Agency of Nigeria said on Friday. Malam Yau (59) appealed to the Yobe state government to provide him with a place to live as he received a reward of $555 for the find last week. He is asking for a house, he said, because “those who come to see the canoe would also want to see and talk with the person who discovered it.” Yau discovered the ancient canoe, 8,4m long and 50cm wide, at Dafuno, Yobe State, in the far north-eastern corner of Nigeria in 1987.