Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea
[4] According to the Control Risks Group, pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea had by mid-November 2013 maintained a steady level of around 100 attempted hijackings in the year, a close second behind the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia.
Officials report Nigerian pirate gangs in the Gulf of Guinea shifting, in 2019, from cargo theft to kidnapping seafaring crews in order to extort ransom from ship owners.
[14] According to a European Parliament report, this was due to the discovery of large amounts of offshore hydrocarbon, from which only the central government, local elites, and oil companies have actually profited.
Piracy acts interfere with the legitimate trading interests of the affected countries that include Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Overall, research seems to indicate that when speaking of piracy, it is important not to focus on one single solution, and instead approach the battle from a multi-layered perspective, solving multiple issues with a combination of national, regional, and international efforts.
[citation needed] Findings from Nigeria have indicated corruption as a major cause of piracy,[20][21][22] typically attributed to the weak legal and jurisdictional systems, law enforcement and the security apparatus of the nation.
[23][20][24] Corruption represents a threat to democracy when powerful individuals or organizations, particularly those linked to the military and security sectors, utilize their positions to serve their own interests at the expense of the integrity of other persons, authorities, and institutions in charge of protecting the properties and assets within the nation.
[20] These pervasive practices also manifest in matters of the sea, as evidenced from the Nigerian navy, who have routinely engaged in oil bunkering, while public officials have also reportedly benefited from piracy in a multitude of ways,[20][24][25] including engaging in corrupt practices that arise opportunistically when producing and exporting oil in the Niger Delta, resulting in the disappearance billions of dollars into overseas bank accounts of corrupt public officials and politicians.
A state's incapability to maintain control over its own territorial waters can lead to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing,[26] which marginalises local fishermen who may in turn resort to criminal activity, including piracy (see also youth unemployment below).
[28] This unbridled exploitation damages ecosystems and local communities alike and, as shown in Somalia, causes economic grievances that drive many Somalis into the ranks of Piracy organizations.
[28] This way, fishermen stand to earn several thousand US dollars from a single pirate attack, a substantially higher amount than would otherwise be possible by toiling hard for months in the legal economy.
[37] Somali fishermen, seeing their waters increasingly overfished (also see: Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing above) by foreign industrial vessels their small embarkations cannot compete with, had become alienated from the ‘legal economy’.
[39] Piracy is also raising in complexity, evolving from simple armed robberies to planned and violent assaults on oil tankers,[39] further adding to the urgency in tackling these issues.
[28] Regional analyses have shown that fiscal decentralization (spreading of control of finances across a network, as opposed to having the control focused on one lone entity within) at a national level lowers the number of piratical incidents, as regions have larger stakes in the revenue streams that typically arise from peaceful settings,[34] while a political decentralisation (distribution of institutional power across several actors within a network) analysis indicates that bigger governmental institutions at the lower tiers of governance seem to foster an increase in piracy incidents, due to reduced competition among local jurisdictions.
[34] Interestingly, larger autonomy at a regional level and in bottom tier elections reduce piracy, as local officials gain enough power to take ownership of their law enforcement policies.
[40][41][42] Weak states also lack a combination of coastal security personnel, run ineffective courts and house corrupt elites which, when allied to substantial inequality and unemployment, cause considerable grievance in the population and facilitate the creation of sanctuaries for criminal activity.
[60]: 3 Between the end of 2011 and the start of 2012, the area saw a reduction of attempted and actual attacks, thanks to the continuous presence of military forces in the maritime domain, and the two navies’ information and intelligence sharing.
On June 25, 2013, 25 countries from West and Central Africa gathered in Yaoundé, Cameroon to lay the basis for a common regional strategy to prevent and prosecute illicit activities in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea.
[61] The Yaoundé Code of Conduct (YCOC), is a comprehensive regional maritime security framework aimed at enhancing cooperation and information-sharing in the wider Gulf of Guinea.
The YCOC, also known as the Code of Conduct Concerning the Repression of Piracy Armed Robbery against Ships, and Illicit Maritime Activity in West and Central Africa, consists of 21 articles.
On June 10, 2021, the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Deep Blue Project, officially known as The Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure.
[65] The primary objective of the Deep Blue Project is to secure Nigerian Waters up to the Gulf of Guinea and give Nigeria more leverage to harness the enormous resources of the maritime environment resultantly enabling further economic diversification.
[64] These ambitious efforts and assets makes the Deep Blue Project the first national integrated maritime security strategy in West and Central Africa.
The idea is that this strategic partnership between NIMASA and international organisations will be helpful in the efforts to improve the regional approach to solving maritime security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea.
"[73]Consequently, the organization "encourages States […] through concerted action, to counter piracy and armed robbery at sea in the Gulf of Guinea through the conduct of bilateral or regional maritime patrols consistent with relevant international law (UN link) and calls upon States, in cooperation with the shipping industry, the insurance industry and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to issue to ships entitled to fly their flag, appropriate advice and guidance within context of the Gulf of Guinea.
It has four strategic objectives: building a common understanding of the scale of the threat (reducing so-called "sea-blindness"), helping regional governments to put in place robust multiagency institutions, supporting the development of prosperous economies and strengthening the existing cooperation structures.
In addition, the EU is attempting to develop long-term security and stability through the promotion of inclusive growth, generating benefits from wealth and job creation for all people.
The action of Interpol has revolved around three main areas: improving the evidence collection capabilities of the local police forces; facilitating a better cooperation between the actors of the different countries involved; making sure that hostages are debriefed and interviewed and all relevant information is gathered.
[46]: 42–44 The legal framework governing piracy and other maritime offences in the Gulf of Guinea is historically The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
[85][59] Furthermore, there has been no prosecution of pirates up until recently, despite the compelling evidence confirming that piracy and armed robbery against ships within the Nigerian maritime domain have remained consistent over the past years.
