Conflict has been attributed to Africa's developmental woes. Several causal factors have been advanced with the intent to unravel the origin, nature and stereotypes of conflicts in order to bring peace and stability, and development to the continent. However, most of such studies linking causal factors of conflicts relating to sub-national conflicts and development of the African region have not been very clear. This article establishes a link between poor and bad governance, and sub-national conflicts in Africa to encourage African states and their political leaders to embrace good governance as panacea to peace, stability and development of the continent. The linkage was constructed using secondary data relating to poor and bad governance, and sub-national conflicts in and outside the region of Africa.

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The study creates an understanding ofoffshore petroleum activities induced socioeconomic dynamics of rural households in oil-bearing coastal communities of Nigerias Niger Delta. It was carried out in six littoral Local Government Areas, 3 each from Bayelsa and Delta States in the Niger Delta, usinga sample size of 471 inhabitants, selectedrandomly, and are administered with astructured questionnaire each to obtain thedata required. It was analysed with the aid of SPSS to ascertain howvarying their opinions were to the issue in the region. It was discovered that offshore petroleum activitiesinducesocioeconomic changesto the age limit, sex and marital status, educational level, household size, among others of the rural households with respect toliving in the coastal oil-bearing/fishingcommunities of Nigerias Niger Delta. The recommendation is that stakeholders of the petroleum industryshould be mindful of the socioeconomic changes affecting the rural households and endeavour to create a balance betweenpetroleum exploitingand living in the region.

Bilateral or multilateral relationships among nations or regional blocs are changing rapidly. For instance, Chinese interest in Africa, which began since the early part of the 21st Century, have assumed incredible dimensions. Since then, the growing Chinese footprints in Africa have orchestrated various debates within the academia and public policy experts, describing their relationship as a "major geopolitical feature" in this era of a globalised world. A situation that calls for understanding of the nature of their relationship with a view of creating an integrated African policy framework to tackle perceived negative trends of Chinese role in the Continent vis-à-vis the developmental challenges of African States. Such views have been quite diverse and contentious over the years. Quite a number of views suggests that China's new relationship with the Continent is a substitute to Western relationship that can offer the needed partnership for the most needed economic growth and infrastructural development of African States. This position informed the initiative called the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the year 2000, and its subsequent formation in 2010 with the ultimate objective of implementing both political and economic programmes in Africa (Stahl, 2016). Available records show that China have implemented two coherent policies on Africa between 2006 and 2015. Against this backdrop, came the warnings of some scholars as well as States to African States to be wary of such Chinese benevolence. The West championed by Washington and Brussels were among such active voices. From the two extreme viewpoints, lies the desire of this paper to analyse holistically, Chinese strategic policy outcomes vis-à-vis the African development needs from 2014 to date. The intention is to contribute to the ongoing debate about Africa-China relations vis-à-vis the development needs of the Continent. Such holistic analytical approach will further expose the potential impact of the Chinese strategic policy outcomes and the extent of development of African States. Interestingly, the paper will be able to throw open to African States of the choice to doing business with whomever they like based on their development challenges or needs per time and not because of colonial ties or linkages.

This study assesses whether climate change governance has improved ecosystem sustainability in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) from 2012 to 2021. It relied on the African Strategy on Climate Change (ASCC), May 2014 for the assessment and adopted the ecosystem approach (EA) for analysis. The study discovered that the ASCC May 2014 was quite elaborate, yet does not explicitly, address the issues bothering ecosystem sustainability (ES). Rather, efforts and considerations were organized around climate change mitigation financing and development, which motive was to perpetuate the exploitation of the continent’s natural resources. It also discovered that many of the policies and frameworks intended to mitigate climate change and adaptation have not been adequately implemented due to bad governance. The study, therefore, recommends that future African strategic policies and frameworks on the environment cum engagements with climate change governance actors such as development partners, regulators, and other stakeholders either on the global, regional, or national levels should be properly directed to enhance ecosystem sustainability. In addition, such outcomes should be implemented adequately to safeguard the livelihoods of the millions of indigenous people in the SSA.