The Gulf of Guinea is the new world’s piracy hotspot
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB), which is a specialised division of the International Chamber of Commerce with the aim of reporting on and preventing maritime crimes, in particular piracy and maritime frauds, published its latest report on piracy and armed robbery at sea on October the 14th. The report classified the Gulf of Guinea, located off the western African coast and extending from Senegal to Angola, as the world’s main piracy hotspot today.
Piracy hampers the flows of maritime trade by halting the international trade and supply chain, which results in an increasing of costs and subsequently damages the global economy. Indeed, about 90% of raw materials and products traded from western Africa to the global market travel through the Gulf of Guinea, where around 1500 of fishing vessels, oil tankers and cargo ships navigate daily.
In the past decade, the Gulf of Aden and around the saes of Somalia have been the main theater of piracy attacks, which peaked in 2011 when 276 attacks were perpetrated. After the peak, the phenomenon drastically decreased and virtually ceased to exist in 2018, since when no piracy assaults have been recorded in the area. A major role in neutralizing piracy in the region was played by anti-piracy missions Ocean Shield (NATO) and EUNAVFOR Atalanta (EU), which both represented the international commitment and effort in the Gulf of Aden.
Alongside the decrease in piracy activities in the Gulf of Aden, a steady increase of the phenomenon has been witnessed in the Gulf of Guinea, where more attacks than those taking place in Somali waters were carried out for the first time in 2012. The data showed in the last IMB report, which covers the period between January and September 2020, highlight how piracy is still expanding in the Gulf of Guinea. As a matter of fact, there has been an important upsurge of piracy assaults (+40%) and of number of kidnappings when compared to the same period of last year. About the latter phenomenon, today around 95% of world’s kidnappings at sea happen in the Gulf of Guinea, in particular off the coasts of Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, where seafarers are captured and held for ransom.
Both these numbers and the kind of attacks recorded could point to a change of strategy of pirates, who would have decreased hijackings of oil tankers, previously carried out in order to sell the crude in the black market, in favor of kidnapping the ships crew for ransom. A possible explanation of this change of attitude could be found in the oil prices fall after covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, because of the falling of prices, pirates could consider capturing seafarers for ransom a more lucrative activity than smuggling fuel. In any case, the coastal States’ economy is the one to suffer the most because of piracy, which cost the States 2,3 billion dollars between 2015 and 2017.
Even though piracy attacks are performed in different spots of the Gulf of Guinea, the majority of kidnappings take place off the coast of Nigeria. Nigeria is the biggest producer of oil in the African continent and its main oil fields are found in the Niger Delta, the South-East area that comprises nine Federal States, where many of the major western oil multinationals, such as Total, Shell, Chevron and ENI, carry out drilling activities. However, in the Niger Delta, armed groups like the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have been escalating their piracy ventures, which are mainly aimed at hijacking ships to seize oil, damaging extraction infrastructures and kidnapping workers for ransom.
The dramatic socio-economic situation od Niger delta wider region could explain their high hostility and their ability to recruit more and more militiamen. Indeed, oil-producing federal States benefit little from oil industry, which profits are taken and collected by the central Government, and they are not recipients of sufficient governmental aid programs either. Therefore, piracy is considered as an alternative way to access otherwise unattainable livelihoods. For example, many decided to turn to illicit crimes after unemployment increased due to the acute pollution and environment impacts of oil industry, in particular on the waters and the soil, which jeopardized the fishing and agriculture sectors, the two main regional economic source of income.
Piracy in the Niger Delta can badly damage Nigeria’s economy, in which crude oil stands for 98% of its export and contribute almost at 75% of its federal budget. Nevertheless, the international economy can also be affected, since factors like the alteration of maritime routes and the increase of insurance costs can impact the cost of trading. For instance, the European Union suffers particularly from acts of piracy in Nigeria, since it imports the majority of Nigerian oil. In 2019, Nigeria supplied 309.2 million barrels to Europe, which account for 7% of the continent’s total demand. In addition, Italy too has strategic interests in Nigeria. Indeed, ENI heavily exploits oil fields in the Niger Delta, from which last year, for example, it was able to extract 44 million barrels, the majority of which were sent to the domestic market, which depends on Nigeria for 6,5% of its oil demand.
Given the strategic interest of the area, in particular the importance of regional and international energy trade, European countries decided to adopt some prevention and counter-piracy measures. Italy, for example, by the adoption of “International military mission decree 2020” (decreto missioni), approved on July the 7th, deployed air and naval assets in order to guarantee the freedom of navigation and maritime trade security, to be achieved through surveillance and counter-piracy activities. However, Italy also safeguards its strategic interest by escorting its national ships when they navigate off the coasts of Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast. Moreover, western countries also assist the Gulf of Guinea coastal States by implementing programs of capacity building, mentoring and advisoring, which include navy training programs but also donations of ships and vessels.
European countries also support regional cooperation between the Gulf of Guinea States, which adopted the Yaoundé Code of Conduct in 2013 with the purpose of engaging in cooperative activities in order to eradicate transnational maritime organized crime, in particular piracy.
Nonetheless, fostering regional cooperation could not suffice to eliminate a phenomenon that affects foremost Nigeria. There are multiple reasons why effectively eradicating piracy off the Nigerian coast could be challenging. First, Nigeria lacks adequate maritime capacity, which therefore does not allow for sufficient capabilities in terms of surveillance of territorial and non-territorial waters. Secondly, even though Nigeria is the first Guinea Gulf coastal State to have adopted a federal law to suppress piracy and other maritime offenses (Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act – SPOMO), implementing such a new normative is challenging and problematic.
Moreover, the Nigerian military and judiciary system is plagued with corruption and therefore vulnerable to acts of criminals and pirates who often, after the payment of a bribe, manage to receive information on trade routes and ships’ cargos or to invalidate accusations moved against their bands’ members.
Given the current trends and the kind of piracy attacks taking place in the Gulf of Guinea, and in particular off the coast of Nigeria, it is possible to state that such trends could consolidate, or even worsen in the area.
Indeed, the socio-economic conditions that feed piracy and maritime crimes appear to be destined to further deteriorate due to the covid-19 pandemic negative impacts and the lack of developmental policies promoted by the central government. The Niger Delta is still affected by both an intense environmental emergency, linked to pollution, and a labor emergency, fostered by unemployment. Without any major socio-political interventions from the State, such an emergency situation will most probably push many others to enter the illegal network which therefore will be able to expand the reach of its activity.
In parallel, the international commitment expressed in terms of counter-piracy multilateral cooperation appears to be essential to mitigate the phenomenon and its damaging consequences. In this sense, the commitment showed by international actors in the Gulf of Guinea is promising. However, if piracy activities do increase in numbers and violence, the international community and the Gulf of Guinea coastal States’ partners might have to strengthen their engagement.
