Climate change has remained a major problem around which global development policies are framed. The effects of climate change are rising tremendously and are more evident in Africa with low adaptive capacity to the impacts of climate change and where climate change has led to drought and desertification with consequences for safety and security in the region. Although the connection between climate change and conflicts is well studied, there is little research on the geopolitical contribution of climate change to conflicts. Using a dominant qualitative approach based on secondary data and eco-violence theory, this study examines how geopolitics affects climate change-induced conflicts and displacement in West Africa. Drawing largely from Nigeria and Mali, the study argues that, despite the destructive effects of anthropogenic activities created by insufficient competing areas for livelihood and subsistence resources, the implementation of climate resolution among countries and regions of the world has remained obscure. The repercussions of the geopolitics of climate change are the insurgencies and cattle herders’ unrest in Africa, especially the West African region.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on virtually all facets of society. With the enforcement of COVID-19 control measures such as lockdown and stay-at-home orders in Nigeria, palpable concerns about human rights violations by state actors, especially the security agencies, emerged. Unfortunately, conceptualizing and structuring responses to the COVID-19 pandemic as a human rights issue has remained inadequate, and very little research exists on the possible effects of pandemic containment policies on the human rights of informal workers in Nigerian cities. Drawing from secondary sources, this study examined how enforcement of COVID-19 control protocols by state actors impinged on the human rights of informal workers in Nigeria during the pandemic. The paper argues that the enforcement of COVID-19 containment measures in Nigeria neglects social structures and local economic dynamics, and invariably undermines the human rights of informal workers who depend on daily social businesses for their livelihoods. It further posits that the nuances of African cultures and social economy need to be taken into consideration before the large-scale adoption of these control measures to mitigate the pandemic. The study concludes that sustained rights advocacy and retraining of the security agents is relevant for effective implementation of COVID-19 protocols in Nigeria.

Type 2 diabetes patients often experience higher levels of stigma than the general population, which has been extensively documented to adversely impact th

The study examines the application of performance management (PM) to politics in the African context using Nigeria as a focus. It argues that PM will yield better results if it focuses on ways to improve and stabilize the results of politics based on the notion of politics-administration dichotomy and the leadership role of the political class in that relationship. The relevance of some key elements of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) such as the role of leadership, peer review, self-assessment, competitiveness and comparative learning and innovation are investigated as elements of performance management at this level. Documentary data based on the implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and evaluation of the application of performance information in relation to those critical roles of politicians were analysed. The authors found that although measures aligning with the CAF model of PM are in place, politicians remain poorly committed, inconsistent and irregular in submitting and using performance information. The study suggests strengthening PM at the political level of governance through energised support for an African Peer Review Mechanism framework and an international push for sustained application of peer review and results of various global performance indexes in dealing with African countries.