By Innocent Anaba

LAGOS — THE ECOWAS Court of Justice and Lagos State Judiciary have pledged to work more closely together following a high-level dialogue in Lagos, in a significant step toward deepening regional judicial cooperation.

The meeting, attended by senior judicial officials, focused on fostering collaboration in the areas of human rights protection, legal integration, and the rule of law across West Africa.

President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Justice Ricardo Gonçalves, at the meeting, stressed the importance of partnership over competition among judicial bodies.

Gonçalves said: “Our roles may differ in scope or geography, but our purpose remains the same: to serve our people.

“Our courts are not competitors. We are collaborators.”

Also speaking, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, welcomed the ECOWAS delegation and praised the initiative as a “golden opportunity” for mutual learning.

Justice Alogba said: “We do not simply render judgments, we are concerned with their implementation and their impact on society.” Justice Alogba said, pointing to persistent challenges in enforcing regional court rulings.

Chief Registrar of the ECOWAS Court, Dr. Yaouza Ouro-Sama, highlighted the court’s expanding role in human rights litigation, now the dominant feature of its docket.

He reaffirmed the court’s respect for national sovereignty, noting, “The ECOWAS Court does not serve as an appellate court over national judiciaries. Rather, it offers a complementary path to justice when national remedies have been exhausted.”

“The transformation of ECOWAS from a ‘Community of States’ to a ‘Community of Peoples’ can only be realised when the grassroots are carried along in this integration project.”