The cowpea beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricus) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a major pest of stored cowpeamilitating against food security in developing nations. The comparative study of Xylopia aethiopica and Aframomummelegueta powder in respect to their phytochemical and insecticidal properties against C. maculatus was carried out usinga Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with five treatments (0, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5g/20g cowpea seeds corresponding to0.0, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1 and 0.13% v/w) replicated thrice under ambient laboratory condition (28±2°C temperature and 75±5%relative humidity). The phytochemical screening showed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, tannins, cardiac glycoside inboth plants, while alkaloids was present in A. melegueta and absent in X. aethiopica. The mortality of C. maculatusincreased gradually with exposure time and dosage of the plant powders. X. aethiopica caused 75.15% adult mortality andA. meleguta exerted 85% mortality at 120 hrs post infestation. Maximum oviposition deterrent activity was observed withX. aethiopica (54.26%) compared to A. melegueta (51.32%). Conclusively, both plants showed highly useful bioactivityagainst C. maculatus in suppressing oviposition and adult emergence and, therefore, can be used in formulating ecofriendlyherbal insecticides.