Political economy Nexus and Covid-19 pandemic in Africa: analysis of trans-border small scale women businesses

Abstract

The African state is weak and limited in its ability to compete in the global economy as a result of the role of the emergent political leadership linked to capital accumulation and internal contradictions of its political economy. The novel global Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbates Africa’s fragile political systems and economies, and creates developmental challenges on different sectors of the economy. Extant literature has examined the contributions of women’s small-scale businesses to the informal sector. However, the impacts of COVID-19 on women’s businesses and livelihoods across borders are grossly under researched. The paper specifically examined the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on trans-border small-scale women businesses (TBSWB) in Nigeria. It adopted a qualitative methodology which included a combination of primary and secondary data. The primary source of data was from Key Informant Interviews of 50 TBSWB in Nigeria-Cameroun border. This was analyzed using conceptual content analysis and logical inductions. The result of the study showed that TBSWB has suffered a number of Covid-19 induced difficulties and setbacks such as impoundments of goods, dwindling income, low patronage and poor profit from their sales, multiple charges by border officials etc This study recommended that African governments should integrate trans-border and gender equality policies in its Covid-19 guidelines. This is to alleviate the hiccups in the borders that hamper the growth and development of TBSWB in Nigeria.