Nigeria’s relationship with the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has been tense for years, and two recent high-profile rulings — one on vagrancy laws and another on the National Human Rights Commission’s six-year delay in handling a 98 year old man’s complaint — have once again put the country in the regional court’s spotlight.
While the case of 98 year old Kolawole Koiki (whose shares in the New Nigeria Salt Company were nationalised in 1978) made headlines this week, another long-running human rights saga deserves equal attention: the fight against Nigeria’s colonial-era vagrancy laws.
The Landmark 2017 Victory: Dorothy Njemanze & Ors v. Nigeria
In October 2017, the ECOWAS Court delivered a groundbreaking judgment in the case brought by four Nigerian women — Dorothy Njemanze, Amarachi Chukwu, Ogechi Oguejiofor, and Chioma Uzodinma.The women had been arrested in 2013 in Owerri, Imo State, accused of “loitering” at night — a classic use of vagrancy provisions (Sections 249–250 of the Criminal Code in southern Nigeria and equivalent sections of the Penal Code in the north).
They were detained, strip-searched, and publicly humiliated despite committing no recognisable crime. The court found that: Nigeria violated the women’s rights to dignity, personal liberty, freedom of movement, and non-discrimination under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The vagrancy laws were overly vague and disproportionately used against women perceived to be sex workers. The arrests constituted gender-based violence and a failure by the state to protect vulnerable citizens.
The court awarded each applicant ₦2 million in damages and ordered Nigeria to investigate the officers involved. It was a rare and powerful victory that sent shockwaves through police commands across the country and inspired similar challenges elsewhere on the continent.
The 2025 Setback: Lawyers Alert Initiative v. Nigeria
Fast-forward to 14 May 2025. A Makurdi-based NGO, Lawyers Alert Initiative, asked the same court for a blanket declaration that Nigeria’s vagrancy provisions are unconstitutional and must be repealed in their entirety.
The NGO presented statistics on arbitrary arrests, argued that the laws criminalise poverty and status rather than conduct, and invoked virtually every protection in the African Charter. The court’s response was blunt: the case was dismissed.
Why? The application was too abstract. There were no named victims, no specific incidents backed by sworn affidavits, and no evidence of concrete harm traceable to individual applicants.
Citing its own precedents (including the Digital Rights Lawyers case), the court reiterated that it is not an advisory body for legislative reform — it decides real disputes affecting real people.
What This Means Going Forward
The contrasting outcomes of 2017 and 2025 reveal a clear roadmap for activists: Victim-centred litigation works. The Dorothy Njemanze case succeeded because four women stood up, told their stories, and proved harm.
Broad, theoretical challenges — no matter how morally compelling — will almost certainly fail at the ECOWAS Court.
Meanwhile, the laws remain on the books. Police units in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kano continue to round up “idle and disorderly persons” and “rogues and vagabonds” — phrases straight out of 19th-century British statutes that Nigeria inherited at independence.
Across Africa, the tide is turning. Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi, and Botswana are among the countries that have either repealed or significantly curtailed vagrancy laws in the past decade.
In 2020, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights issued an advisory opinion declaring such laws incompatible with the African Charter.
The Bigger Picture
The ECOWAS Court has now ruled against Nigeria on a remarkable range of issues in 2025 alone: Blasphemy laws (January 2025), Vagrancy laws (indirectly, through procedural dismissal in May). The right to a timely hearing before the National Human Rights Commission (November 2025)
Each judgment chips away at practices that successive Nigerian governments have defended as necessary for public order. Until the National Assembly summons the political will to repeal these archaic provisions — or until another group of courageous victims steps forward with airtight evidence — the cycle of arrests, humiliation, and regional condemnation will continue.
For now, the message from Abuja’s seat at the ECOWAS Court is unmistakable: when real people suffer real harm, the court will listen.
When activists ask for sweeping declarations without victims, the door stays closed. The fight against vagrancy laws in Nigeria is far from over. It has simply entered its next, more strategic phase.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 