Does Border Digitization Reduce Cross Border Corruption Along West African Borders? Navigating Policy Intention and Reality

Transnational crime such as human trafficking, smuggling, arms trafficking, and drug trafficking poses a significant threat to West Africa’s security and development. Africa’s porous borders, weak border enforcement infrastructure, and limited technological capabilities create an environment where these crimes thrive. Despite efforts by African governments and international organizations to secure borders, the incidence of various forms of criminal activities is on the rise. To address these challenges, there is growing interest in border digitization using various Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to enhance border security by detecting and reducing criminal activities across borders. The study thus seeks to answer the question: Does border digitization reduces cross border corruption along West African borders? Moral intensity theory and an exploratory research design would be used in the study. The preliminary outcome of the study showed that despite the adoption and integration of border digitization in West African borders, cross border corruption-related activities tend to be predominant. This, thus pose a great challenge between the good policy intention of government towards border digitization and the reality obtainable in terms of prevalence of exploitation and bribery. It is recommended that there should be provision of effective digital infrastructure as well as sensitization of travellers and border users on some of these digital tools in order to reduce exploitation from the border officials.