Highlights
– Nigeria becomes top hotspot for piracy
– Pirate attacks include Niger Delta rebels targeting oil ships and criminals seeking financial gain
– Ongoing piracy threatens fishing and oil industries in Nigeria
– Reports indicate piracy has begun to spread throughout the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea
In late May 2008, the International Maritime Bureau (IMD) released its piracy statistics for the first quarter of the year. The results indicated that 10 out of the 49 piracy attacks in the world occurred in Nigeria, making it the top hotspot for piracy for the first time, surpassing the Malacca Straits and Somalia. With regional maritime cooperation occurring in response to the piracy threat in the Malacca Straits and the international community focusing its efforts on Somalia, including a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution authorizing foreign navies to patrol Somali territorial waters (Previous Report), piracy off Nigeria’s coast and in the Niger Delta waterways has been able to thrive with little local, regional, or international response.
An Abundance of Targets and Motivations
The myriad of waterways of the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s coastal waters, and the greater Gulf of Guinea provide pirates with a plethora of targets. The most notable trend is members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) attacking ships seemingly connected to the oil industry. MEND, a rebel group operating primarily in the Niger Delta and fighting for a greater distribution of oil profits, has cut oil production by approximately 20 percent since it began its insurgency in late 2005. Pirate attacks perpetrated by MEND focus solely on oil industry ships, including oil tankers, ships used to transport workers (who are often kidnapped), and ships used to transport supplies to oil facilities.
Criminal organizations seeking financial gains constitute a secondary group conducting pirate attacks. The groups, which often involve former and current members of the myriad of Niger Delta rebel groups, target a variety of ships, including oil ships and fishing trawlers. However, in recent months, due to the increasing security measures on oil company ships, pirates have begun to focus on fishing trawlers.
Pirate groups have become increasingly brazen in light of the continued failure of the Nigerian navy to effectively challenge their dominance on the waterways, including expanding their attacks to targets along the banks of waterways. The most daring attack occurred in the oil city of Port Harcourt when pirates attacked the First Bank of Nigeria when the staff was transferring US$2.54 million.
Challenges in Combating Piracy
Despite an ongoing insurgency in the Niger Delta and steadily increasing pirate attacks, the Nigerian navy remains unprepared for the challenges piracy presents. Attacks in the Niger Delta are particularly difficult for the navy to defend against due to both the quantity of small creeks and the navy’s lack of knowledge of the waterways compared to the local pirate and insurgent groups. However, even in open water the Nigerian navy is nearly always outmanned, outgunned, and faces faster and newer ships. The Nigerian navy has stated it maintains 11 vessels to patrol 3,014 creeks and an overall coastline of 523 miles. Additionally, the navy employs 17 warships, most of which are old and barely functioning.
In response to the growing piracy threat, the government recently announced it would purchase two helicopter gunships, several patrol boats, and additional weapons. However, it will still lack offshore patrol boats, a modern radar system, and flat-bottomed boats capable of navigating the countless creeks.
Outlook
With regional navies as ineffective as, or even more so than, the Nigerian navy, regional cooperation like that in the Malacca Straits would likely have little impact. Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua remains conflicted over an international maritime force deployment in Nigerian waters. Further, Yar’Adua’s April 2008 call for an international force to be established to protect oil installations in the Gulf of Guinea has progressed little, as Yar’Adua remains concerned about Nigerian sovereignty.
Without increased spending for the Nigerian navy and increased international efforts focused on the Gulf of Guinea, with support from the Nigerian government, piracy will remain a significant problem in Nigeria. To date, in June 2008, several attacks on oil industry vessels have occurred, as well as an attack on a Cameroonian military vessel on June 9, 2008 in the Bakassi Peninsula (Attack). Reports also indicate piracy has begun to spread to oil-producing Equatorial Guinea, south of Nigeria and the Cameroonian-controlled Bakassi Peninsula.
With pirate attacks are likely to continue in the near to mid-term as the Nigerian government and international community struggle to effectively address the issue, Nigeria’s fishing industry will likely continue to be adversely affected. Additionally, piracy attacks targeting the oil industry will further impact Nigeria’s oil output. As Nigeria and the United States’ fifth largest supplier of oil, the Gulf of Guinea is responsible for more than 15 percent of the US’ oil imports. Therefore, ongoing piracy attacks will continue to contribute to record high oil prices in the US and abroad.
