The essence of the External Court Sessions is to bring justice to the common man at the grassroots of the Community, especially the indigent Community citizens, who cannot afford the cost and logistics of travelling to the seat of the Court in Abuja to access justice.

The External Court Sessions also avails the Court the opportunity for judicial dialogue with the national courts of Member States and exposes lawyers and Community Citizens of the Member State concerned, to the Practice and Procedure of a Regional International Court.

It gives the Court an opportunity to engage with the high political authorities of the host Member State, in order to deepen the fraternal relationship between the Member State and the Court.

The External Court Sessions have the additional benefit of serving as outreach programs for the Court, by creating awareness about the competence, mandate, Practice and Procedure of the Court. The program is anchored on the provision of Article 26 (2) of the 1991 Protocol on the Court which provides as follows “where circumstances or facts of the case so demand, the Court may decide to sit in the territory of another Member State”,

Over the years, the Court has utilized the provisions of this article to respond to the requests and yearnings of indigent Applicants, to hold an External Court Session outside its seat in the territory of a Member State. The Court also seizes the opportunity to include in the cause list for the External Court  Session, some pending cases before the Court, from the neighboring Member States

Since the first External Court Session was held by the Court in March 2007 in Bamako – Mali, the Court has held the following External Court  Sessions in the territory of Member States:

1. – Niamey, Republic of Niger in April 2008
2. – Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in April 2010
3. – Porto-Novo, Benin Republic in October 2011
4. – Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria in December 2012
5. – Lome, Togo in February 2014
6. – Guinea Bissau in March 2015
7. – Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in April 2016
8. – Bamako, Mali in April 2018
9. – Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in October 2021
10. – Accra, Ghana in March 2022