Nigeria: A Case Study

A Look Through the Spyglass at Piracy in Nigeria

Background on Nigeria

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, with a population of 177.5 people, and its

official language is English, according to nationsonline.org. In addition, according to

infoplease.com: its capital is Abuja, its most popular religion is Islam, at 50%, followed by

Christianity, which ranked in at 40%; the president of Nigeria is Muhammadu Buhari, and

Nigeria’s government consists of a multiparty system and is in the process of transitioning from

military to civilian rule; Nigeria’s GDP/PPP, as estimated in 2013, is $478.5 billion; per capita

$2,800; Unemployment in Nigeria is estimated to be at 23.9%. Additionally, its industries consist

of: crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood; hides and skins,

textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer,

printing, ceramics, steel, small commercial ship construction and repair. Its natural resources

consist of: natural gas, petroleum, tin, columbite, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc, arable

land. The fact that oil finds itself in both categories (in natural resources it falls under the

category of petroleum) is relevant to the issue of piracy discussed later on in this paper, as the

root of piracy is corruption within Nigeria’s oil markets.

 According to mapsoftheworld.com, “Nigeria is bordered by the Republic of Benin on the

west, Chad and Cameroon on the east, and by Niger in the north. On the south, it borders the

Gulf of Guinea.” This is important to note because, as this paper will also later touch upon,

Benin in particular was hit economically due to Nigerian piracy, and there is the potential that

Nigerian piracy could also put economic strain on other countries in the region.

Mapsoftheworld.com also stated that, at 385.9 square miles, Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria,

its primary port, as well as its economic and financial capital.

As for Nigeria’s political history, infoplease.com offered a brief summary: Apparently,

the empire of Kanem controlled the area from the end of the 11th century to the 14th. Next, the

Fulani empire ruled the region from the beginning of the 19th century until 1851, when the

British annexed Lagos, before seizing control of the rest of the region by 1886. In 1914, it was

formally declared the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Most notably, at least to history buffs,

during World War I, native troops of the West African frontier force joined with French forces to

defeat the German garrison in Cameroon.

Background on Piracy in Nigeria

Piracy is and has long been a serious issue in Nigeria: In fact, during the first half of

2004, Nigerian waters were the most deadly in the world, according to a piracy report by the

Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau. The report showed that ½ of the 30 deaths

recorded in pirate attacks around the world between January 1st and June 30th occurred in

Nigerian territorial waters. In terms of the number of attacks, Nigeria ranked third that year, with

a total of 13 attacks.

Since then, piracy in Nigeria has continued to be an ongoing problem. In fact, as recently

as April 14th of 2016, as reported by the Gulf Times, Nigerian pirates boarded The CMA CGM
Turquoise, a cargo vessel managed by Dioryx Maritime Corp., cargo vessel and kidnapped two

crew members. And, according to BBC News, on April 11th 2016, they attacked a Turkish

Cargo ship carrying chemicals and kidnapped its Captain and Chief Engineer.

The following graph, provided by stastista.com, offers further background on

Nigeria’s background with piracy. According to the data below, by 2015 piracy had decreased

significantly from 40 attacks in 2008, when piracy was at an all time high, to just 14. In between

these numbers, however, pirate attacks tend to rise and fall between the years (much the same

way that economic rise and fall tends to shift with market change from year to year), indicating

that there might be some sort of cyclical nature toward the expansion and compression of the the

piracy problem. In addition, it should be noted that many pirate attacks go unreported, making

these numbers a conservative estimate, rather than an inflated one.

Introduction

Most people think piracy is a thing of the past, and that modern day piracy

amounts to file sharing, but that is simply not the trace. Real maritime piracy occurs now

in 2016, in places like Somalia and Nigeria. While piracy in Somalia has been on the

decline in recent years, piracy in Nigeria, which serves as a model for piracy elsewhere,

is on the rise. Many people have preconceived notions about piracy already. One may

have a romanticized view of piracy, pushed by characters who are caricatures of pirates,

like Captain Hook, and romance novels, think they understand its damages, or believe

that its causes are limited to greed. Real world piracy, however, is often brutal and

violent, especially in Nigeria, where unlike Somalia, pirates are more likely to kill the

people whose ships they board than they are to take them captive. Further still, people are

murdered to obtain goods (in the case of Nigerian pirates: oil), and hostages are taken for

ransom, and its causes and damages are not as simple as one might think. Indeed, its

damages consist of more than a hit to a business's finances, instead encompassing a hit to

the economy of whatever countries happen to border the body of water near which it

takes place, and its causes are poverty, corruption, and indicators of a weak nation-state,

like weak law enforcement.

Causes of Piracy

According to AfricaRenewal Online, the oil sector in Nigeria is one with high

levels of corruption and fraud. Lines between legal and illegal supplies of Nigerian oil are

already blurry: Therefore, pirates know that they can sell it on the black market without

high risk. Additionally, the pre-existing criminal element in Nigeria (of pirates, rebels,

and militants; among which there are intersections and overlap) fuels corruption further,
as pirates attract illegal arms dealers looking to make a profit into the region. As more

corruption is brought into the area, piracy worsens. Subsequently, pirates grow more

violent, as arms dealers supply them with weapons such as: AK47s, general purpose

machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades, as indicated by the self-simulated model

below.

Larger scale, governmental corruption contributes to the problem, too. In fact,

according to allafrica.com, Politicians in Nigeria are accused of protecting pirates and

covering up incidents where piracy occurs, in exchange of a cut of their revenue, which is

then used to finance elections. Whether due to corruption or incompetence, state failure

plays a factor, as well. Case in point, as also stated by allafrica.com: Though Nigeria is

one of few piracy affected states to have a professional Navy, the state is more worried

about the growing Boko Haram threat than piracy, so resources to tackle Nigeria’s piracy

problem aren’t a high priority, since the financials of a developing country tend to be

such that the government can only afford to tackle so many problems at once.

Poverty also acts as an incentive for piracy. Similarly to how the character Elle

Woods said in the movie Legally Blonde that, “. . . Happy people don’t shoot their
husbands, they just don’t,” happy people also tend not to commit themselves to criminal

groups, be they terrorist groups, or piracy groups. Indeed, poor people, who lack the

resources to feed themselves and their families, are most likely to turn to piracy, whereas

as the uber wealthy are not (though, via corrupt actions such as insider knowledge and

coverups, as mentioned previously, they may be complicit in piracy, though not involved

directly), because they have less to lose, and stand to gain more financially. This is

illustrated by the following quote by Dr. Christian Bueger, a Cardiff University

researcher and editor of Piracy-Studies.org,who spoke to Africa Renewal Online. Bueger

stated that research indicated that, “Piracy tends to be conducted or supported by

marginalized communities that have not been participating in economic development.”

Piracy’s True Economic Cost

Piracy not only causes direct losses, but these losses have larger, long-standing

implications for the economy because of the way they affect international insurance rates,

and other trade related costs. This is a problem not easily combatted because, though

ships have begun to sail through dangerous waters with armed guards, in Nigeria (like

many other West African countries), ships must anchor at a port to do business, making

them vulnerable, and thereby raising their insurance costs. Companies tend to be in the

business of being strategic. Therefore, risk of property and rising insurance costs have

driven business away from the region.

Since many countries within Africa have trouble effectively enforcing property

and income taxes on their people, trade taxes account for a significant portion of

government revenue: Since booming businesses in the region allows for more trade taxes
to be collected, and piracy drives away business, this presents a catch 22 in terms of state

development. Weak states might incentivise piracy, but governments without money to

fund themselves tend to be weaker. Therefore, in essence, piracy keeps states weak, as

indicated by the self-simulated model below.

For example, according to UNODC figures published in March 2013, and

subsequently cited by Africa Renewel Online, the percent loss of government revenue in

Benin in 2012 was 28% when London-based Lloyd’s Market Association, an umbrella

group of maritime insurers, listed Nigeria, its neighbor Benin, and nearby waters in the

same risk category for piracy as Somalia. While Benin is, obviously, a separate country

from Nigeria, the problem reflected by this statistic is true for many, if not all, of the

countries which have coasts near piracy affected waters, making this example applicable

to the subject. Additionally, Benin’s loss was a direct result of Nigerian Piracy,

something that would indicate that the economic cost of piracy has international reach, as

well. This theory would make sense, due to the fact that piracy occurs in the free flowing

ocean and is not confined to the borders of one country. Additionally, the trade ships that
 pirates tend to target typically tend to be from foreign countries, meaning that the

economic cost of piracy is shared by many.

Measures Taken to Counteract Piracy

Also according to Africa Renewal Online, actions that have been taken against

piracy in Nigeria are as follows:

The U.S., China, and the EU all have precedents set where they have intervened

in cases of piracy, and even have strategically placed bases from which they can do. This

does leech sovereignty away from Nigeria, not because of the issue of Maratime Law, but

because outside state actors are having to come in and police a subset of Nigeria’s

criminal element, since it, apparently, cannot effectively police its own people, at least

not in regards to piracy. This infringement of sovereignty is a major point of concern for

many African countries, which have a history of having sovereignty taken away from

them due to their reliance on outside aid. In this case, however, it can help mitigate the

piracy problem on an (admittedly short term) as needed basis.

Additionally, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which has been signed

and ratified by all West African countries, is a key legal agreement in combatting piracy,

as it sets exclusive economic zones over which individual states have the rights for

exploration, energy production from water and wind, and the use of marine resources.

And, finally, ECOWAS also signed a memorandum of understanding between the

International Maritime Organization and the Maritime Organization of West and Central

Africa, to establish a subregional integrated coast guard network in West and Central

Africa.

Four Additional Crucial Anti-Piracy Steps, as Recommended by Dr. Christian Bueger

 Dr. Christian Beuger, when interviewed by Africa Renewal Online, stated that the

steps he would recommend to combat piracy are as follows:

1. Affected states need to share informations about activities on their coastlines with their

neighbors.

2. Joint training activities, so countries can develop procedures and learn how to use

technology.

3. Strong legislation needs instituted, to prosecute criminals.

4. States should set aside enough money to build local capacity.

In elaborating on the fourth step, he said, “Even if a state has the information, even if the

state has well-trained coast guards, and even if the state has incorporated all the right laws,

without vessels, the state is powerless.” The core of Beuger’s final argument is that defense

spending needs to go into establishing and providing for seafaring vessels that coast guard

officials can use to challenge pirates on the sea. Countries regularly maintain law enforcement

and military bodies in order to enforce their laws. In the same vein, without a physical presence

on the sea, anti-piracy laws are effectively unenforceable.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is time for the general public to reevaluate its understanding of piracy.

Pirates are not fashion obsessed sailors playing dress up, and modern day piracy exists beyond

the digital piracy with which Americans tend to be familiar. Though violent and not particularly

romantic, modern day Nigerian pirates are not the greedy characters of myth and legend we

might imagine them to be. Rather, they are everyday people pushed to crime because they are

impoverished and live in failing, corrupt states, where the government is unable to do enough to

provide for and create legal opportunities for them. In addition, pirates do more than kidnap, kill,
and hurt business and industry; they hurt the national (and, indeed, international) economies of

the countries bordering the bodies of water they have chosen to pillage.

Works Cited
Ben-Ari, Nirit. "Piracy in West Africa | Africa Renewal Online." UN News Center. UN,

Dec. 2013. Web. 02 May 2016.

"Egyptian, Filipino Kidnapped by Pirates off Nigeria." Gulf-times.com. Gulf Times, 14

Apr. 2016. Web. 02 May 2016.

Mantzikos, Ioannis. "Nigeria: Piracy in Nigeria - Just Getting Going?" AllAfrica.com.

AllAfrica, 11 Dec. 2014. Web. 02 May 2016.

"Nigeria - Number of Piracy Attacks 2015 | Statistic." Statista.com. : The Statistics

Portal, n.d. Web. 02 May 2016.

"Nigeria Facts." Facts about Nigeria. Mapsoftheworld.com, n.d. Web. 02 May 2016.

"Nigeria." Infoplease.com. Info Please, n.d. Web. 02 May 2016.

"___ Nigeria." Nationsonline.org. Nations Online, n.d. Web. 02 May 2016.

"Pirates 'kidnap Crew' of Turkish Cargo Ship off Nigeria." BBC News. BBC, 11 Apr.

2016. Web. 02 May 2016.