Survey Links Climate Stress, Poverty, Substance Use in Northern Nigeria
A survey of 20,000 adults across 40 communities in Kano, Kaduna and Katsina states found that over 85% were multidimensionally poor, 45.2% scored in…
Kabir Isa5 min read
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Sports & Entertainment
Olympe Bhêly-Quenum at 100: Beninese Writer Who Widened Francophone Literature
Olympe Bhêly-Quenum, the Beninese novelist whose work helped shape African literature in French, turns 100 this year. His novels, including Un piège sans fin and Le Chant du lac, explored individual destinies and social tensions rather than direct colonial critique. His career placed him at the centre of intellectual debates during the independence years, circulating through Présence Africaine and journals that crossed former colonial borders.
Sports & Entertainment
Senegal’s Youth Olympic Games Venues Raise a Post-2026 Funding Question
Senegal has built and renovated venues in Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly for the Youth Olympic Games, which run from 31 October to 13 November 2026. Two researchers argue the harder question is how the state will finance and maintain those facilities afterwards, and set out different management approaches for each of the three host sites.
Sports & Entertainment
eLDee Returns With ‘I Wish You Well,’ Comic Rebuke of Nigeria Billing Culture
Nigerian rapper eLDee the Don has released I Wish You Well, a comic track about a woman who asks a near-stranger for a loan and then for travel and designer goods. The song arrives as billing, the expectation that a suitor should fund a woman's lifestyle, remains central to Nigerian debates about dating, money and gender.
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West African Politics
ECOWAS Statistical Leadership Training in Monrovia Ends with Calls for Stronger Systems
A five-day ECOWAS training workshop on statistical leadership and management for National Statistical Systems managers from Member States and Mauritania concluded in Monrovia, Liberia. Participants recommended stronger strategic leadership, safeguards for the professional independence of statistical institutions, and improved coordination among statistical producers. They also urged ECOWAS to support capacity-building on generative artificial intelligence and to establish a regional committee for international statistical decision-making.
General News
ECOWAS Opens Accra Workshop to Put 2026–2031 Communication Strategy Into Practice
ECOWAS and GIZ opened a workshop in Accra on 12 October 2026 to begin implementing the bloc's Inter-Institutional Communication Strategy and Institutions Information and Communication Policy for 2026–2031. Communication officers from ECOWAS institutions and specialised agencies are meeting to align messaging, share priorities and coordinate activities ahead of 2027.
West African Politics
ECOWAS Boundary Commissions Meet in The Gambia to Review Border Governance Progress
Heads of national boundary commissions from across West Africa met in The Gambia from 6 to 8 October 2026 to review progress on recommendations from their previous gathering and identify priority follow-up actions. The meeting, convened by the ECOWAS Commission, brought together commission heads alongside representatives of the African Union and development partners including GIZ.
Business & Economy
WAGPA Reports 22% Gas Supply Rise as ECOWAS Commissioner Pledges Support
The West African Gas Pipeline Authority has reported a 22% increase in gas supply compared with previous years, its Director General Chafari Kanya Hanawa told ECOWAS Commissioner Amin Amidu Sulemani during a courtesy visit. Hanawa outlined the pipeline's origins in a 1982 ECOWAS initiative and a 2003 treaty signed by Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, with commercial operations starting in 2011. Sulemani pledged support for the authority's work and called for collaboration on regional energy integration.
Agriculture & Food Security
ECOWAS Ministers Adopt Three Animal Health Strategies
Animal health ministers from the Economic Community of West African States adopted three regional strategies at a meeting in Lomé, Togo, on 8 October 2026. The plans cover donkey protection and conservation through 2030, and the prevention and control of foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza for 2027 to 2031. The donkey strategy includes a commitment to ban trade in donkey skins, while the other two set out measures on surveillance, vaccination, data sharing and coordination through the Regional Animal Health Centre.
West African Politics
ECOWAS Mission Checks Free Movement Rules at Togo Borders
ECOWAS officials carried out a five-day fact-finding mission from 21 to 25 September 2026 to check how free movement rules are applied at Togo's borders with Benin and Ghana. The delegation, led by Resident Representative H.E. Ms Deweh Emily Gray, visited the Tohoun and Kémérida crossings on the Togo–Benin route and Natchamba and Noépé-Akanu on the Togo–Ghana route. The data collected will be consolidated into an analysis identifying difficulties, good practices and operational recommendations.