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The outbreak and spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is probably the most serious global challenge since World War II. While research has paid considerable attention to the technical, epidemiological and public health aspects of the pandemic in Africa, it neglects the social, economic and political dimensions. Relying on analysis of data on trends of COVID-19 infections from the World Health Organization and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and a rapid review of available international and national policy/programme documents on COVID-19 control responses in Africa, this study assessed the extant protocols and responses to COVID-19 in relation to urban governance principles. Utilizing the political economy framework, the social conditions of informal labour and business activities during the COVID-19 pandemic are explored with accession to social habitus of informality. The paper argues that in as much as the COVID-19 pandemic is a pervasive health problem it should be treated more as a social and political economy challenge given the large informal nature of urbanism in Africa. The study concludes that urban governance that incorporates collective organization, community groups, non-state and informal actors offers scope in the battle against COVID-19 in Africa. Rethinking African urbanism in line with the principles of the Global Campaign on Urban Governance is also canvassed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neither the ECOWAS Common approach nor single-country unilateralism offers consistent and dependable systems for effective migration governance in West Africa. Both approaches derive from neo-realist and neo-liberal frameworks and produce incoherent, contradictory, and conflicting migration systems which adversely affect the quality of transborder mobility, governance, and security. Using the case of Nigeria and the Republic of Benin, this article applies social constructivism to argue for a third approach to migration governance: one in which neighboring or bordering states implement flexible, coherent, and hybrid migration systems based on the specificities of their cultural, political, and economic needs, while adapting to the common regional approach and foregoing their distinct unilateralism. The constructivism-based approach focuses on four dimensions underpinning exclusively flexible and mutually acceptable migration standards: (i) joint transborder security and policing, (ii) joint rehabilitation of dilapidated and porous transboundary areas, (iii) bilateral harmonization of immigration laws and policies, and (iv) protection of immigrants' social rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]