ECOWAS court charges members on verdict enforcement

Ogwu asks Nigeria to pull weight in global affairsVICE President, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice, Justice Benfeito Mosso Ramos, has said that member-states who do not comply with the judgment of the court risk sanctions from the ECOWAS head of governments.According to Ramos, disregarding the court's verdict is tantamount to a violation of the ECOWAS treaty under which the court was set up in the first place.Ramos spoke at a media briefing to mark end of the sensitisation mission of the ECOWAS Court to Lagos State at the weekend.He stressed that the essential role of the court of justice was the interpretation and the application of the Revised Treaty of ECOWAS and the annexed protocols and conventions.Meanwhile, Nigeria's Permanent Representative at the United Nations (UN), Prof. Joy Ogwu, has stressed the need for the country to review its multilateral engagement with the rest of the world.In a recent interview with The Guardian, Ogwu said the review should be 'all encompassing, more embracing,'stressing that 'this should happen today, not tomorrow. Taking this step makes us stronger.'Ogwu's charge came against the backdrop of the situation where countries that had benefited from Nigeria's financial and logistics support, which normally should be Nigeria's allies at global institutions like the UN and its organs, are either the very ones quick to vote against Nigeria or relish securing 'rogue votes' at the expense of the country.A high-level ECOWAS source told The Guardian that another trend that should also worry Nigeria in this regard is the situation where certain countries that continued to default on their community levy constantly receive ECOWAS assistance on humanitarian grounds.Being the major financier of the sub-regional group, 'ECOWAS assistance nearly always means Nigerian assistance,' the source said.Ramos added that since the decisions of the ECOWAS court cannot be appealed, the court is empowered to review its decision especially when furnished with new facts that would have affected the outcome of its decision.
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