- 9 Agho Street, Benin City, Nigeria
Call us :
- + 234 708 745 2889
- info@cfcomlaw.com
The Centre for Community Law (CFComLaw) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing knowledge of ECOWAS law and oceanic law across West Africa. Through research, public education, policy engagement, and its peer-reviewed academic journal, CFComLaw works to ensure that ECOWAS frameworks become a living reality for the citizens, institutions, and coastal communities they are designed to serve. CFComLaw holds observer status with the International Seabed Authority under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
- Address
- 9, Agho Street, BeninCity, Edo State, Nigeria
- Phone
The Sea Holds the Future. Law Holds the Key.
CFComLaw is the only organisation in the ECOWAS region dedicated to researching, disseminating, and advocating around the law of the sea as it applies to West Africa’s collective ocean space.
The Opportunity
West Africa's Ocean Entitlements Under International Law
West Africa’s Atlantic coastline stretches over 6,000 kilometres. The twelve coastal member states of ECOWAS — Benin, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo — hold exclusive economic zones (EEZs), continental shelves, and extended continental shelves rich with fisheries, hydrocarbons, minerals, and biodiversity.
Under UNCLOS, these states are entitled to exercise sovereign rights over the resources of their EEZs extending 200 nautical miles from their baselines. Nigeria was awarded an extended continental shelf of 20 nautical miles by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in 2023 — adding significant territory and resource entitlement to the country’s maritime estate.
Yet much of this potential remains ungoverned, poorly understood, or subject to boundary disputes and inadequate domestic legal frameworks. The three landlocked ECOWAS member states — Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger — also have legitimate interests in the region’s ocean economy through frameworks of transit, shared revenue, and collaborative regional development.
Research Focus
Five Areas of Ocean Law Research
Exclusive Economic Zones & Continental Shelves
We research maritime entitlements of ECOWAS member states under UNCLOS, including EEZ boundaries, continental shelf delimitation, and extended continental shelf submissions to the CLCS.
Marine Environmental Law & Pollution
CFComLaw researches legal frameworks for marine environmental protection — including MARPOL obligations, the Abidjan Convention, and EEZ state obligations to protect marine biodiversity and ecosystems.
Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is one of the world's most piracy-affected maritime zones. CFComLaw researches legal frameworks for maritime security cooperation and advocates for collective ECOWAS approaches.
The International Seabed Area
Beyond the continental shelves lies the international seabed Area — governed by the ISA. As the first West African civil society organisation with ISA Observer Status, CFComLaw represents ECOWAS interests in global seabed governance.
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)
CFComLaw monitors ITLOS proceedings closely and advocates for greater West African participation — including through the election of African judges and use of ITLOS dispute settlement mechanisms by ECOWAS states.
Selected Publications
- → What the Extended Continental Shelf Means for Nigeria (2023)
- → How Nigeria Added Territory Without War, Litigation, or Purchase: A Rejoinder (2024)
- → Election of Members of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: Whither Nigeria and Other ECOWAS States? (2023)
- → The International Seabed Authority Grants Observer Status to CFComLaw (2024)
- → The Assembly of the International Seabed Authority: Functions and Mandate (2024)