Luqman Afolabi

This research investigates the challenges and implications of implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in tobacco control policies in East Africa, focusing on six countries: Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and South Sudan. This research is crucial because of the potential conflict between AfCFTA’s trade liberalisation objectives and public health priorities concerning tobacco control. This study provides insights into the current landscape of tobacco control policies, the potential impact of AfCFTA on tobacco trade and consumption, and the challenges and opportunities for harmonising regulations and strengthening enforcement mechanisms. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining in-depth interviews, surveys, and desk reviews to gather data from various stakeholders, including policymakers, industry representatives, and civil society organisations. The desk review and stakeholder mapping revealed that, while East African countries have made strides in tobacco control, challenges persist, including illicit trade, industry interference, weak enforcement, and a lack of public awareness. These challenges could be exacerbated by AfCFTA’s trade liberalisation if not accompanied by robust and harmonised tobacco control measures. This study highlights several key aspects of tobacco control efforts, noting both progress and persistent challenges. Despite advancements have been made, issues such as illicit trade and industry interference continue to undermine public health goals. Discrepancies in tobacco control policies and enforcement capacities across the EAC expose gaps that hinder regional harmonisation efforts and create vulnerabilities that the tobacco industry can exploit. Economic and cultural factors also complicate enforcement as conflicting interests and norms often work against strict regulations. Additionally, limited resources and capacity pose substantial barriers to effectively implementing and enforcing tobacco control measures. The tobacco industry, alongside the prevalence of illicit trade, remains a significant threat, undermining policy efforts and impeding public health objectives across the region. The study recommends strengthening the enforcement of existing laws, increasing tobacco taxes and tariffs, implementing plain packaging and comprehensive bans on advertising, investing in cessation programs, and enhancing regional collaboration. To further understand the context of this study, the following section provides background information on the AfCFTA and its potential implications for tobacco control in East Africa

Africa's rapid urbanization presents both opportunities and challenges. By 2040, the continent will host 12 megacities and numerous secondary cities poised to be drivers of regional development. Rwanda, through its innovative National Urbanization Policy, exemplifies a forward-looking approach by decentralizing growth from Kigali to six secondary cities. A key but often underexplored aspect of this urbanization strategy is the integration of cultural institutions, such as museums, as pillars for heritage conservation, education, and tourism. Museums in Rwanda's secondary cities, including the Ethnographic Museum in Huye and the King's Palace Museum in Nyanza, play an instrumental role in fostering cultural identity and economic development. This study explores how museums contribute to the sustainable urbanization of Rwanda's secondary cities, complementing broader efforts to enhance economic growth, preserve heritage, and foster inclusive community engagement.

This study investigates the practical relationship between foreign direct investments (FDI), bilateral investment treaties (BITs), income, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries between 2000 and 2020. To address the challenges of heterogeneity, non-stationarity and cross-sectional dependence, we employed the dynamic common-correlated effects estimation method introduced by Chudik and Pesaran. This methodology provides reliable results for panel datasets of significant to moderate size. The results indicate a direct connection between FDI and CO₂ emissions, providing evidence for the pollution haven theory. Notably, BITs also have a favourable and substantial impact on environmental degradation in SSA countries. These findings emphasise the need for effective environmental regulatory frameworks and management techniques. Achieving sustainable growth and economic development in SSA countries requires prioritising the adoption and implementation of carbon reduction strategies. SSA countries can attain balanced growth between economic progress and environmental preservation by reducing the negative effects of FDI inflows and BITs on environmental sustainability. This study expands the current knowledge base by providing insights into the complex relationship between FDI inflows, BITs, income, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in SSA countries. The findings offer valuable guidance to policymakers and stakeholders in formulating and executing effective environmental policies and regulations to promote sustainable development in the area.

Purpose: Recently, multidimensional aspects of poverty has been increasingly focused on which includes education, economy and health, while access to modern energy such as stable electricity is also one of the possible solution; thus, this article aims to divulge the relation between access to electricity and progression in socioeconomic status in urban and rural areas of Nigeria in an attempt to propose a sustainable framework for access to electricity.Design/methodology/approach: Demographic and health survey data are collected using four categories of model of questionnaires. A standard questionnaire was designed to gather information on features of the household's dwelling element and attributes of visitors and usual residents between the 2018 period. Biomarker questionnaire was used to gather biomarker data on men, women and children. Logistic model estimation technique was employed to estimate the socioeconomic factors affecting access to electricity in Nigeria.Findings: These studies discovered that there are diverse set of factors affecting access to electricity in Nigeria especially in the rural areas. However, respondent residing in rural areas are still largely deprived access to electricity; most importantly, households with no access to electricity are more likely to use self-generating sets as revealed. Additionally, empirical findings indicated that the higher the level of your education and wealth, the higher the likelihood of having access to electricity in Nigeria. These factors included political will to connect the rural areas to the national grid, development of other infrastructures in those deprived areas and others.Practical implications: The problem confronting access to electricity in Nigeria has three components. The first is the significance of those deprived access to electricity in the rural areas and the physical resources needed to connect them to the national grid. The second is the political willingness of the government to have equitable distribution of public goods evenly between rural and urban areas especially on electricity access which will go a long way in reducing poverty in Nigeria. The third is lack of robust national development plans and strategy to tackle the problems facing electricity access in Nigeria.Social implications: As the rate of socioeconomic status/development increases, access to electricity is anticipated to rise up in Nigeria.Originality/value: The findings can be used by the policy makers to address problems facing access to electricity in Nigeria.

The purpose of this study is to examine the causal relationship between FDI inflow, volume of trade, political instability, and gross domestic product (GDP) in Nigeria using time series data from 1981 to 2014. The ADF and Phillips Perron (PP) tests were used to see whether all variables are stationary. Consequently, the Johansen and Juselius cointegration tests were employed to investigate the existence of long-run relationship among the variables. The findings indicated that there was a long-run relationship among the variables used in this study. The multivariate Granger causality test was carried out using the VECM approach to analyse the causal links among all the variables. A bidirectional causality was discovered between the FDI inflow and economic growth (GDP), but there was one-way direction between political instability and FDI, as well as between political instability and GDP. Apart from that, there was also one-way relationship between FDI and volume of trade within the stated period. The results from this study can be used as a guidance for policymakers on FDI, where the government can pay more attention on the issue of political instability and insecurity. The government needs to review and implement a strong, vibrant policy to ensure maximum security and peace in the country with the purpose of attracting more foreign investors.

This study aims to examine bilateral trade flows across ECOWAS-15 nations with the use of a panel and cross section for the period of 1981-2013. The methodology carried out to achieve this objective involves the use of various techniques of estimation for the gravity model (Static and dynamic). More specifically, this study aims to investigate the formational impact of regional trade integration agreements on trade flows within a group of countries using the same currencies and ECOWAS at large. The main use of regional variables into gravity models is intended to determine whether RTAs lead to trade creation, or diversion. The results show the presence of a strong relationship among the factors of both RIAs and trade flows.