The Impact of ECOWAS Community Law on National Legal Systems: Evidence from Nigerian Trade Regulation

The Economic Community of West African States has developed a substantial body of community law, including trade liberalisation protocols, free movement provisions, and regulatory harmonisation directives, which interact in complex ways with the domestic legal systems of member states. Nigeria, as the ECOWAS hegemon, faces both opportunities and challenges in integrating community law obligations into its national trade regulatory framework. This research empirically examines the impact of ECOWAS community law on Nigerian trade regulation, focusing specifically on customs harmonisation, the ECOWAS Common External Tariff, and free movement of goods provisions. A mixed-methods methodology was employed, combining doctrinal analysis of ECOWAS Treaty obligations and Nigerian trade statutes with interviews conducted with Nigerian Customs Service officials, trade lawyers, and ECOWAS Secretariat representatives. Secondary sources include ECOWAS Community Court of Justice decisions, WTO Trade Policy Reviews of Nigeria, and regional integration law scholarship from 2019 to 2024. The study develops an original analytical framework for assessing community law integration quality, distinguishing between formal transposition, administrative implementation, and practical commercial compliance. Findings reveal significant gaps between ECOWAS community law obligations and their effective implementation in Nigerian trade practice, attributable to legislative inertia, administrative capacity constraints, and competing domestic policy priorities. The research recommends specific legislative and administrative measures to improve Nigeria's ECOWAS community law compliance. Keywords: ECOWAS, community law, trade regulation, Nigeria, regional integration.