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West Africa

Your guide to the essential ideas, trends, people and stories shaping West Africa.

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‘I, Too, Am Japa-ing’
Umar Yandaki6 September 2026

‘I, Too, Am Japa-ing’

Decades of failed governance, banditry and economic collapse are driving young men from northern Nigeria across the Sahara in search of gold, dignity and a version of manhood Nigeria no longer offers them.

The Hustle Republic
Yero S. Bah16 August 2026

The Hustle Republic

In The Gambia, migration and remittances have become society’s measure of success and failure. Through the lives of young people, we see the emotional and financial costs of staying behind, the expectations placed on those who leave, and what it means to return home after an unsuccessful attempt to migrate.

Who Will Succeed Pastor E. A. Adeboye?
Ibukunoluwa Omole9 August 2026

Who Will Succeed Pastor E. A. Adeboye?

As the Redeemed Christian Church of God approaches an inevitable leadership transition, one question dominates: who comes after Pastor E. A. Adeboye? Equally important is whether his successor will inherit not only the church but also the tact and influence that has defined Pastor Adeboye’s leadership. 

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How a Flowing Veil Shaped My Identity
How a Flowing Veil Shaped My Identity
Aasiya Abubakar9 November 2025
‘The laffaya is elegant, but it is also instructive. It teaches you how to move, how to hold your head high. There is a sensuality in the way it wraps the body, not in the Western sense, but in the quiet power it gives.
How African Women Are Fighting Climate Capitalism Today
How African Women Are Fighting Climate Capitalism Today
Dieketseng Nzhadzhaba26 October 2025
African women are refusing to remain passive victims or data points in corporate climate monitoring. Instead, they are retooling their embodied knowledge of environmental destruction to build continental intelligence systems that challenge the very foundations of climate capitalism.
A Eulogy for Dead Languages
A Eulogy for Dead Languages
Mwanabibi Sikamo12 October 2025
‘At 16 every Zambian gets a green National Registration Card (NRC). On my NRC, much of that information is either a lie, a slight fabrication, or, as with many things in life, a well-intentioned truth turned false.
7 Books to Read if You Didn’t Study Nigerian History in School
7 Books to Read if You Didn’t Study Nigerian History in School
Peace Yetunde Onafuye28 September 2025
In 1977, historian Obaro Ikime delivered a lecture, ‘History and the Changing Cultures of Nigeria’, responding to Alhaji Shetima Ali Munguno’s disapproval of what he saw at the University of Calabar.

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Climate Change
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How African Women Are Fighting Climate Capitalism Today
DIEKETSENG NZHADZHABAOCTOBER 26, 2025

How African Women Are Fighting Climate Capitalism Today

African women are refusing to remain passive victims or data points in corporate climate monitoring. Instead, they are retooling their embodied knowledge of environmental destruction to build continental intelligence systems that challenge the very foundations of climate capitalism.
Who Will Own and Control Africa’s AI Energy Future?
IMAD MUSAAUGUST 24, 2025

Who Will Own and Control Africa’s AI Energy Future?

As Africa races to power its digital future with Chinese solar panels and AI-ready data centres, it risks becoming both the supplier of critical minerals and the dumping ground for toxic waste in a new form of green extractivism, wrapped in the language of digital and climate progress.
Francis Kéré’s Revolutionary Slingshot Towards Architectural Sustainability
KAMALDEEN ARASIFEBRUARY 21, 2025

Francis Kéré’s Revolutionary Slingshot Towards Architectural Sustainability

Community engagement is central to the work of Burkinabé-German architect, Diébédo Francis Kéré, as he champions the use of local materials to build sustainable housing.
COP27: Abigael Kima’s Cautious Optimism
ELIZABETH ABATIOCTOBER 26, 2022

COP27: Abigael Kima’s Cautious Optimism

Africa is an important voice in the climate debate, Abigael Kima argues ahead of COP27. ‘Because although we are only responsible for 0.5 per cent of historical emissions and less than 4 per cent of the global emissions at the moment, we are the most negatively impacted.’ 

Governing the Mini-Grid Electricity Delivery Model in Nigeria
HAFIZ BELLOJUNE 1, 2020

Governing the Mini-Grid Electricity Delivery Model in Nigeria

Despite the loopholes in Nigeria’s current energy governance structures, a polycentric system delivers and ensures the best means of resource management.

REDD+ in Nigeria’s Last Rainforest
ADENIYI ASIYANBIMAY 4, 2020

REDD+ in Nigeria’s Last Rainforest

In 2011, Nigeria officially became a beneficiary of the environmental initiative, REDD+. Here’s how a 10-billion-dollar global initiative to save Nigeria’s rainforests failed.

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Who Will Own and Control Africa’s AI Energy Future?
Imad Musa24 August 2025

Who Will Own and Control Africa’s AI Energy Future?

As Africa races to power its digital future with Chinese solar panels and AI-ready data centres, it risks becoming both the supplier of critical minerals and the dumping ground for toxic waste in a new form of green extractivism, wrapped in the language of digital and climate progress.
Wi-Fi Warriors and Homeland Dreams
Maggie LoWilla24 August 2025

Wi-Fi Warriors and Homeland Dreams

In a country failed by peace agreements, connection didn’t disappear—it went online. South Sudan’s digital diaspora challenges the glossy myths of Silicon Valley and insists that innovation thrives not only in wealth and infrastructure, but in resilience, memory, and connection across borders.
China's Golden 'Palace Diplomacy' in West Africa
Chidinma Rita Nebolisa24 August 2025

China's Golden 'Palace Diplomacy' in West Africa

The emerging Chinese-funded ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja has sparked attention on the possibilities ahead for China’s bolstered relations with the subregion. What’s in it for West African states?
In Nigeria, to Err Is Human, Unless You Are Poor or a Woman
Ololade Faniyi17 August 2025

In Nigeria, to Err Is Human, Unless You Are Poor or a Woman

Untruth, injustice and the Nigerian way. A lesson in the difference between a ‘human’ connected Nigerian man and the everyday Nigerian/woman as reflected in the Ibom Air and Comfort Emmanson debacle.
7 Books to Read If You Would Rather Skip the Bill at Overpriced Restaurants
Peace Yetunde Onafuye10 August 2025

7 Books to Read If You Would Rather Skip the Bill at Overpriced Restaurants

In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of books for anyone who’d rather skip the bill at overpriced restaurants. If the thought of those inflated prices leaves you calculating with regret, here’s a better indulgence: books.
The Financial Chains on Nigeria’s Digital Workforce
Anna Suberu3 August 2025

The Financial Chains on Nigeria’s Digital Workforce

Nigeria’s restrictive financial policy is hindering payments for its rising digital workforce, keeping many locked out of the global economy.
Has South Africa Overtaken Nigeria as Africa’s Giant?
Steven Gruzd26 July 2025

Has South Africa Overtaken Nigeria as Africa’s Giant?

Nigeria’s silence in the global community contrasts markedly with South Africa’s vibrancy, begging us to ask if Pretoria’s influence has eclipsed Abuja’s regional leadership.
The Akpoti-Uduaghan Playbook on Resistance Against All Odds
Juliet Nnaji20 July 2025

The Akpoti-Uduaghan Playbook on Resistance Against All Odds

What does it mean to be a Nigerian woman fighting against the establishment?
‘Love is at the Centre of Everything I Write’
Onyi Nwabineli12 July 2025

‘Love is at the Centre of Everything I Write’

Nigerian writer and author of Allow Me To Introduce Myself, Onyi Nwabineli, is against using children as social media content: ‘I wondered how I would feel if parts of my childhood were showcased online for the amusement of strangers. I started to feel uneasy about it. Kids can’t consent.
Restrategizing Northern Nigerian Security Beyond Border Fences
IGWE KELECHI NJOKU6 July 2025

Restrategizing Northern Nigerian Security Beyond Border Fences

Nigeria’s worsening insecurity cannot be curtailed by border fences alone, as suggested by the chief of defence staff, but by the government investing in border communities, strengthening local infrastructure and deepening cross-border cooperation with neighbouring countries.
Black Scholarship in Africanfuturism
Aditri Chatterjee29 June 2025

Black Scholarship in Africanfuturism

Nnedi Okorafor's 'Death of the Author' is significant in imparting agency to its Black readers who want to explore africanfuturism, redefining Black scholarship through science fiction and proving that scientific development does not exclusively lie outside literature or within Western countries.