Cotonou Hosts ECOWAS Drive To Enforce Court Judgments
Poor compliance with the rulings of the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States will dominate discussions as the bloc opens its Second Meeting of Competent National Authorities in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, today.
The three-day gathering, themed “From Commitment to Framework: Operationalising a Collaborative Architecture for the Enforcement of ECOWAS Court Judgments,” brings together designated Competent National Authorities from member states, representatives of the ECOWAS Commission and Parliament, legal experts and senior court officials. According to the court, the meeting aims to deepen cooperation among stakeholders and develop practical mechanisms to improve compliance with judgments of the regional court.
The urgency is rooted in figures the court itself has described as troubling. During the inaugural meeting of CNAs held in Lagos in June 2025, the ECOWAS Court disclosed that only 22 per cent of its judgments had been enforced by member states, despite existing legal frameworks and the appointment of Competent National Authorities across the region. At that session, President of the ECOWAS Court, Justice Ricardo Cláudio Monteiro Gonçalves, described the low enforcement rate as a “threat to the very existence” of the court.
The Cotonou meeting builds directly on that Lagos gathering, where participants adopted recommendations to improve compliance, strengthen institutional capacity and promote collaboration among national enforcement authorities. A major highlight will be the presentation and adoption of a Collaborative Framework for the Enforcement of ECOWAS Court Judgments. The framework, developed after consultations with member states, is expected to define institutional responsibilities, communication channels, accountability measures and monitoring processes. Participants will also review progress since the inaugural meeting and assess annual enforcement reports submitted by member states.
Recent data underscores why the framework matters. In December 2025, the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar, Gaye Sowe, told a World Human Rights Day event in Abuja that Nigeria had the highest number of unenforced judgments, with about 50 outstanding out of 125 cases involving the country. Sowe said the court had delivered 492 judgments involving the 12 active member states, of which 192 were categorised as enforceable.
The compliance struggle has also drawn intervention at the highest levels of the bloc. In November 2025, Justice Gonçalves reiterated that the court’s judgments are binding under Article 15 of the Revised Treaty and Article 24(4) of the Supplementary Protocol, urging states yet to designate competent authorities to do so and to domesticate ECOWAS legal instruments into national law. Between February and June 2026, the court held a series of bilateral engagements with national authorities, including a session in Abuja in February over Nigeria’s enforcement record, as part of activities marking the bloc’s 50th anniversary.
The Cotonou meeting will further examine challenges affecting compliance, particularly in human rights cases, and seek practical solutions. The court said it would also formalise a structured platform for cooperation among Competent National Authorities to facilitate peer learning, information sharing and mutual accountability.
In a separate development, ECOWAS Acting Head of Conventional Energy, Koumoin Arbaduis, told a Parliament joint committee meeting in Dakar, Senegal, that West Africa continued to grapple with inadequate electricity supply, low access rates and high transmission costs, despite the sub-region’s estimated 25,000 megawatts of hydroelectric potential and abundant crude oil, natural gas, biomass, uranium and coal reserves.