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Across the region, hard-won progress in press freedom and civil liberties are in decline with journalists arbitrarily detained and disinformation is on the rise. Addressing these challenges in the context of economic stagnation will be a significant challenge.

Civic awareness of the continuous voter’s registration process and the importance of participating has largely been driven by a sustained online campaign in the run-up to 2023, while the platforms can be used to fact check and hold elected and aspiring officials to account. Finding a balance that accentuates these positives and diminishes the negative aspects must be a priority as the elections approach.

Covid-19 in West Africa: Responses and Impacts

The 2023 elections will likely be the first to feel the significant impact of a third major increase in the country’s registered voter population. Whereas in previous elections increase in the registered voter population did not typically translate into a higher voter turnout, as was the case in 2019. In fact, the percentage of voter turn-out dropped with every successive election since the 2003 electoral cycle. Despite this trend, there is cause for optimism that it will be reversed in the 2023 elections. This is because significant campaigns have been launched to encourage younger voters to register and get their permanent voter card (PVC) in order to become more active stakeholders in the electoral process. Another reason is increased faith in the electoral process following the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation Software (BVAS) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Results Viewing Portal (IReV). The development led to an increase in the number of youths registered to vote – the electoral body estimates 40% of newly registered voters are students3 – making it the strata with the highest number of potential voters. In looking at the 2023 elections, it is important to look at critical trends we can identify from past elections and assess their salience, alongside

Tobi Oshodi and James Barnett start by providing an overview and analysis of the role Confucius Institutes, of which there are now 15 in West Africa, are playing in support of China's soft power agenda in the region.

Women made up roughly 47.1% of the 84 million registered voters in the 2019 general elections. A further 3.29 million have registered ahead of the 2023 polls, as compared with 3.2 million men. Yet, although women make up a significant portion of the

Cuts, Bans and Tensions: Franco-Malian Relations in 2022

In recent elections across West Africa opposition mantras of change have succeeded in convincing voters to oust incumbent governments. The five countries focused on in this edition of West Africa Insight - Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia - have all seen an opposition presidential candidate emerge victorious since 2015. But faced with significant challenges and high expectations how are they doing in office?

Forced Labour: An Emerging Feature of Conflict in Nigeria's North-West

In the last quarter of 2020, five of the 15 Economic Community of West African States member countries are facing important elections. In October, presidential elections will take place in Guinea and Cote D'Ivoire (October), with general elections to follow in Burkina Faso (November), Ghana and Niger (both December).

A counter coup d’etat started on 30 September 2022, which eventually led to the removal of Interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba from power. Damiba had risen to power in January 2022, after leading a coup to overthrow the elected government

West Africa is undergoing a period of significant transition. Demographic changes, rapid urbanisation, the spread of new technologies and the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area have created new development pathways for the resource

This special issue of West Africa Insight offers reflections on the challenges facing the media industry and offers some initial thoughts and reflections about how they might be overcome. Mercy Abang looks at models available to media houses in Nigeria that can allow them to develop more sustainable and less dependent business models without compromising on the independence and quality of the output. Drawing on research from Northern Ghana Yahaya Masahudu highlights the critical importance of indigenous language radio to information flows and development in the region. Arguing that greater investment is needed to support this vital communication tool.

Over the last few months, whether in Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, or elsewhere, Africans, the youth in particular, have, in their thousands, frequently and stridently protested French policies in Africa. This is striking when compared to the attitudes of previous generations. This unmistakable intensification of the rancor against France’s policies in Francophone countries’ populace and political and intellectual classes alike seems to have now reached most of the rest of Africa’s elites.

Nigeria is confronting a number of critical political and security challenges that are raising serious questions about its identity and survival as a democratic federal republic.

The Nigerian body politic faces a seeming epidemic of insecurity spanning jihadist insurgency, criminal banditry, farmer-herder conflicts, and violent separatist agitations. While governmental responses have overwhelming followed a militarised path to resolving these multifaceted conflicts

The spread of falsehoods across information ecosystems in West Africa is growing. Although enabled by increasing access to social media and the internet across the region, the flow of fake news is not simply confined to online spaces but moves between offline and digital environments with regularity and ease.

“Climate change is the defining issue of our time and we are at a defining moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are

Fake news is a phenomenon that does not spare Togo, like other countries in the world. It is therefore important to try to understand the mechanisms that govern their rapid dissemination in order to find ways of mitigation.

Former Chief of Staff of the Presidency, General Gilbert Diendéré, who took the responsibility for the coup, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Alongside him, General Djibril Bassolé, head of diplomacy of the Blaise Compaoré government, was