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This chapter aims to demonstrate how the colonial legacy in general, and in its monetary area in particular, has been one of the major obstacles to African countries' ability to mobilize financial resources for their development. In fact, the monetary systems inherited from colonialism serve as an instrument to plunder African resources and extract surplus for capital accumulation in former colonial powers. One of the best examples is found in the relationships between France and its former colonies in West and Central Africa. The monetary system imposed on those countries is essentially perpetuating the Colonial Pact, under which the role of the colonies is to serve the political, economic, and strategic interests of the colonial power. For African countries, the monetary arrangement, illustrated by the use of CFA franc as their currency, has been a major obstacle to capital accumulation, productive capacity building and effective structural transformation of their economies. Unless African countries break free from the CFA monetary system and reclaim their sovereignty, there will be no development. The struggle for monetary sovereignty in former French colonies is now part of a broader continental struggle to reclaim Africa's sovereignty over its resources and the formulation of its development policies.

This paper presents insights on expatriates in Africa and sets out a research agenda for Africa’s expatriation. The objective of the paper is to provide background and context on expatriation in Africa and to stimulate and guide further research in this important area.

The reviewed papers were drawn from journals and other sources that reported on expatriation to/from African countries. It also incorporates an array of literature on contextual African issues, exploring conceptually how these relate to expatriation.

The review confirmed that there is little research on the topic, particularly with respect to outward expatriation and the studies that exist are one of a kind and stand alone. There has been no attempt to build systematic theory or develop a wholistic picture. This means that the field is wide open for more research. The data provide a picture of the current expatriate situation, including numbers, demographics, host/home locations, success rates and so on, and are provide a basis for further research developing and testing hypotheses regarding individual, organizational and country/national characteristics and how these influence and relate to expatriate experiences and outcomes. Researchers can also draw on the existing expatriation literature from around the world for replication studies to identify uniquely African issues as well as similarities with other locations. As Selmer (2016) noted, replication research is widely used in the sciences and is at the core of the scientific method and thus should be considered for expatriation research.

Limited previous research means there is a need for further research.

Expatriation is a critical aspect of companies operating internationally and companies are increasingly interested in doing business in African countries. Africa's economic growth and development are strong and foreign direct investment (FDI) into Africa is growing with consequent increases in the number of expatriates going to Africa. Understanding expatriation in the African context is thus very important to a variety of companies.

Management literature focusing on Africa is limited and this is true regarding expatriation. This means there is a need for researchers and practitioners to understand expatriation issues in this context, particularly considering economic growth on the continent, increasing interest in doing business there, along with increasing FDI and use of expatriates, as well as the expansion of African companies. This paper provides a research agenda as a guide on which researchers, including those in Africa, can build.

The growth of both the informal sector and illicit financial outflows necessitated this study, in order to investigate how countries in Africa respond to these realities in terms of mobilization of domestic resources. These are the main motivation for the current study to the extant literature in conjunction with the adoption of employing second-generation econometric techniques which take into account cross-sectional dependence and country-specific heterogeneity.

This study therefore examined the capacity of Africa to mobilize domestic resources amidst rising illicit financial outflows and informal sector size in selected African countries between 2000 and 2018. Second-generation econometric techniques such as cross-sectional dependence tests, slope homogeneity tests, Westerlund (2007) long-run co-integration tests, Eberhardt and Teal (2010) augmented mean group estimations and Kónya (2006) panel causality testing were employed.

Findings revealed the existence of cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity in the data series. Findings also supported the existence of depressing long-run impacts of IFOs and ISS on domestic savings. Causality test results were not uniform across variables among countries. Policy recommendations favour formalizing the largely informal African economies through budgetary policy adjustments and commitment to building stronger institutions.

The fragility of the African countries economy and its macroeconomic indicators is suggestive for more policy construction.

This economic reality about the nature of the informal sector is one that has negated the traditional view which holds that economic reforms would make the informal sector shrink as it transits to formal sector. Experiences from Latin America and Africa in fact indicate that the informal sector is actually on an expansionary path in the wake of adjustment and policy reforms. It is often called the unobserved, unorganized or unprotected economy. With this sector growing in size, the possibility of a reverse may not be in sight, owing to the increasing poverty levels and unemployment prevalent in most African countries. Uncertain foreign investment and aid inflows coupled with lower export revenues and high levels of indebtedness have created new impetus to examine the capacity of Africa's fiscal policy regime to mobilise domestic resources for the development of the region. Surprisingly, the last decade witnessed continued rise in Africa's illicit financial outflows amidst large informal sector size (ISS).

This paper aims to examine the impact of the auditor's characteristics on bank's earnings management (EM) through loan loss provisions (LLP) for African banks.

This study is based on 360 bank-year observations from 14 African countries for the period 2011–2016, discretionary LLP is used as proxy for EM. Panel regressions have been conducted.

The authors' findings reveal that auditor's industry specialization and tenure exert a negative and significant influence on the extent of LLP-based EM. The results also show that total fees paid to the banks' auditors are positively related to the extent of EM. In a further analysis, the authors find that industry specialist auditors are more effective in reducing the incoming-increasing. Similarly, the positive relationship previously found between EM and total fees still holds only for income-increasing. Moreover, auditor tenure negatively impacts both income-increasing and income-decreasing EM. As for auditor change, results reveal differential effect on EM.

The current research extends prior literature and provides an understanding of an important external monitoring mechanism, the external audit, within African banks. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is a paucity of cross-country studies that has addressed the influence of auditors' attributes on banks' EM in Africa.

This study aims to examine the effect of gender equality on financial stability and financial inclusion for 14 developing countries using yearly data from 2005 to 2021.

The two-stage least squares regression estimation and the generalized linear model regression estimation were used to investigate the effect of gender equality on financial stability and financial inclusion.

Gender equality has a significant positive effect on financial stability and financial inclusion in developing countries. Gender equality has a significant positive effect on financial stability and financial inclusion in African countries. Gender equality has a significant positive effect on financial stability but not on financial inclusion in non-African countries.

Little attention has been paid to the role of gender equality in promoting financial stability and financial inclusion. The authors address this issue in this study.

Internationalisation and academic mobility have long been integral parts, although serving different purposes in the higher education industry. Internationalisation has played a crucial role in facilitating academic exchange, knowledge sharing, research partnerships and collaborative innovation. However, the rise of neoliberalism has introduced the market forces of global capitalism that have significantly impacted higher education worldwide – invading the sector with neoliberal market values. This chapter aims to explore the impact of neoliberalism on the internationalisation of higher education in Africa, with a specific focus on trends in international student mobility. The chapter argues that the influence of neoliberalism on international mobility extends beyond market dynamics, encompassing discussions on hegemony within international knowledge systems, where African countries and institutions often find themselves marginalised. The study relies on published materials and publicly available statistical data from both governmental and non-governmental organisations. By examining the interplay between neoliberalism and the process of internationalisation in higher education, this chapter sheds light on the intricate and multifaceted aspects of both concepts, as well as their practical implications for international student mobility. Moreover, the chapter reflects on the implications of neoliberal entanglements for the prospects of internationalisation in African higher education.

This paper explores some of the recent developments and transformations in Africa's higher education.

It employs an extensive review of literature based on some dominant thematic areas characterizing the main trends and developments in Africa's higher education.

The paper mainly highlights the impacts of academic partnerships on these transformations, with a focus on research, postgraduate training, mobility and some new intra-African initiatives. Following the unprecedented effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization comes out as an important turning point for Africa's higher education, which should be exploited for more opportunities. The paper calls for collaborative efforts to address the challenges facing Africa's higher education for the repositioning of Africa as a meaningful player in the unfolding global knowledge society.

The outcomes could be useful to researchers focused on international education, policymakers and higher education leaders and international development partners working on higher education in Africa. It could also be useful for structuring future collaborations between Africa and other regions of the world.

The paper calls for enhanced and mutually beneficial collaborations and disruption of the imbalances that have characterised North–South collaborations. It proposes some possible approaches and alternatives that could be used for redress.

The paper is original and relies on some of the new developments in Africa, including the impacts of COVID-19 and digitalization on the future of higher education collaborations with Africa.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review on encumbrances facing the implementation of GBP in selected African countries. Green building practices (GBP) implementation is germane and promotes the development of a green environment and buildings. Many studies have been conducted on the encumbrances faced with GBP implementation, especially in developing countries. But evidence of a comprehensive study that investigates and analyses these hindrances from different developing countries is missing. Therefore, a systematic review is conducted systematically reviewing the current literature on encumbrances facing the implementation of GBP in selected African countries. Also, the study proffers possible drivers for stakeholders to promote GBP in African countries.

A total of 38 published papers were identified from the Web of Science, Scopus database and supported with materials from Google Scholar related to Africa’s GBP. The continent was divided into five regions, and each region covered three countries.

Two themes emerged from the analysed review – encumbrances facing GBP implementation and possible drivers for stakeholders to promote GBP in African countries. A total of 18 encumbrances and 18 drivers were identified from the analysed literature and grouped into 6 sub-themes.

Current empirical articles were reviewed to suggest the drivers for stakeholders to promote GBP that emerged from this paper. Thus, to enrich the results from this paper, primary source data of regional studies of GBP in Africa’s context should be carried out via the mixed-methods design.

A total of 18 drivers were identified for stakeholders to promote GBP in Africa and form part of the paper’s implications. Also, the paper findings would serve as a treasured suggestion for the stakeholders (policymakers, construction practitioners, clients and academics) who are fascinated by the promotion of GBP across African nations.

This is possibly the foremost analysed systematic review study on GBP implementation in Africa. Therefore, it fills the theoretical gap and proffers possible drivers for stakeholders to promote GBP in the African context.

This study examines the influence of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations on the financial development-economic growth nexus around the world.

The study uses data from 165 countries spanning continents, income levels, and regulatory regimes from 2012 to 2018. The Prais–Winsten (1954) and Hansen (2000) panel threshold estimation approaches were used to assess the study's hypothesized relationships.

Financial development, according to the research, generally stimulates economic growth. However, the authors find evidence of AML regulations' threshold effect on the finance-growth connection, with the impact of finance on growth being positive below the threshold value. Above the threshold, however, the authors observe a negative influence. Further, the authors find that AML regulations have a considerable detrimental impact on the finance-growth nexus over the threshold for developed countries. However, the authors find a positive but insignificant effect of finance on growth below the AML regulations threshold for African countries, while finance positively impacts growth above the AML regulations threshold.

The findings of the study imply that countries must make conscious efforts to combat the incidence of money laundering by establishing policies to improve financial transparency and standards, promoting public sector transparency and accountability, reducing legal and political risk, and combating bribery and corruption.

This study contributes to the literature as it is the first attempt to examine the moderating role of AML regulations in the finance-growth nexus. Also, the study examines the threshold effect of how AML regulations impact the finance-growth nexus.

It is no news that Chinese construction companies are highly motivated to invest in Africa in terms of infrastructure and construction. This influx from the beginning of the millennium marked a game-changer for infrastructural development in most African countries. This study, therefore, explores how the partnership between China and Africa has impacted the construction industry in Africa with a focus on Nigeria.

A quantitative approach was adapted for the study, which is descriptive in nature, and the primary participants of the study were core construction professionals within the Nigerian construction industry. Data was collected via a structured questionnaire, and multivariate statistics was used to analyse the data.

The study results revealed that the benefits accrued from Chinese participation in the African construction industry can be classified into three distinct categories: socio-economic development through construction, land transportation system development and construction industry development. The study further revealed that Chinese involvement has been most beneficial to the development of the land transportation system in Nigeria with more investment in the construction and maintenance of roads and railways.

The study will serve as a basis for making informed future decisions on Chinese participation in the Nigerian construction industry as it exposes the impacts of the relationship within the current system. The outcome of this study can be used to refocus the partnership to ensure the optimum development of the local construction industry. The government and other relevant agencies can use the findings from this study to ensure that there is sustainable growth in the local construction industry through Chinese participation.