Neither the ECOWAS Common approach nor single-country unilateralism offers consistent and dependable systems for effective migration governance in West Africa. Both approaches derive from neo-realist and neo-liberal frameworks and produce incoherent, contradictory, and conflicting migration systems which adversely affect the quality of transborder mobility, governance, and security. Using the case of Nigeria and the Republic of Benin, this article applies social constructivism to argue for a third approach to migration governance: one in which neighboring or bordering states implement flexible, coherent, and hybrid migration systems based on the specificities of their cultural, political, and economic needs, while adapting to the common regional approach and foregoing their distinct unilateralism. The constructivism-based approach focuses on four dimensions underpinning exclusively flexible and mutually acceptable migration standards: (i) joint transborder security and policing, (ii) joint rehabilitation of dilapidated and porous transboundary areas, (iii) bilateral harmonization of immigration laws and policies, and (iv) protection of immigrants’ social rights.

无论是西非经共体共同办法还是单一国家单边主义，都无法为西非的有效移民治理提供一致且可靠的系统。这两种方法都源自新现实主义和新自由主义框架，并产生不连贯、矛盾和冲突的移民系统，对跨境流动、治理和安全的质量产生不利影响。本文以尼日利亚和贝宁共和国为例，运用社会建构主义来论证第三种移民治理方法：邻国或接壤国家根据其文化的特殊性实施灵活、一致和混合的移民制度，政治和经济需要，同时适应共同的区域方法并摒弃其独特的单边主义。