ABSTRACT
Urbanised border regions face complex, multi-faceted challenges, although states consider them primarily from the point of view of state security and the compliance of trade and movement of goods. Border towns, especially when “twinned” on either side of what are often porous and fluid borders, have human and development needs that are often overlooked. This chapter addresses this blindness in global, regional, and national policy. It is based on a desktop review of the situation surrounding urbanised communities along the border between Benin and Nigeria. The review examines the dynamics of the flow of goods and people, as well as the state’s economic and security concerns and interventions, including border closure and national and regional initiatives to address the situation. The chapter identifies the need for more coordinated efforts to ensure the sustainability and prosperity of border communities and finds that greater acknowledgement of this in the global agenda would help promote appropriate national policy and implementation.
