Abstract
This study investigates the nature and evolution of maritime crime in the West
African region, asking questions around what contemporary maritime piracy in
Nigeria (and by extension the Gulf of Guinea) has come to look like, and how it
compares to similar activities in other domains. The study uses a mixed
methods approach, employing desktop research, visiting research, interviewbased
research, and data collection and analysis. The research reveals Nigeria to be at the epicentre of the maritime criminal
problem over the period under review, which developed alongside the
exploitation of oil in that country. The data allows for the establishment of
modus operandi and the development of a typology of maritime crime, which
reveals five main categories of attack. Further to this, it is also able to establish
some linkage between theft of oil and petroleum products at sea, colloquially
known as petro-piracy, and the oil bunkering that takes place on land.
However, contrary to popular belief, the data does not bear out the
presumption that petro-piracy forms the central thrust of the model at play in
this domain.
Noting Nigeria to be the origin and source of a problem that then spills over
into neighbouring waters, the study then homes in on this country in order to
establish the motivating factors that explain the emergence and persistence of
this criminal activity. The researcher narrows causal factors down to the
following: state weakness and ungoverned spaces, poverty and inequality,
corruption and neopatrimonialism, environmental degradation, criminality
meeting protest, and a culture of violence.
The study has also examined the extent of counter-piracy in Nigeria and the
Gulf of Guinea (GoG) subregion, following initiatives across domestic, regional,
and international levels. Overall, the study found that local efforts have been
hampered by the pervasiveness of corruption, competing security threats, and...
D.Litt. et Phil. (Politics)