![]() ![]() “The issues that caused this in the Niger Delta have not been addressed,” said Max Williams, chief operating officer at security firm Africa Risk Compliance. Officer on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) said collusion between some members of the security forces and pirates as well as scant prosecutions for kidnappings must also be tackled. Pollution in the region where international and local firms churn out Nigeria’s oil means people cannot farm or fish and 70% of its roughly 30 million people earn less than $1 per day, according to the United Nations, making piracy attractive. Lurking beneath the government’s new show of maritime strength is poverty in the Niger Delta, where nearly all West Africa’s pirates originate. “Nigeria is going to take the lead,” Jamoh said. Unlike in Somalia, which had no navy and limited government capability and thus allowed foreign navies to fire on ships and arrest pirates, only Nigerian security forces are allowed to be armed in the country’s large territorial waters. “If the threat to their ships is not addressed, the entire international trade is affected,” Jamoh said. (Editor’s note: Click here to view a Reuters-produced chart that tracks kidnappings of seafarers in the Gulf of Guinea). ![]() navy is helping with training and European navies are assisting in patrols, a mark of their concern for a region that is a key global supplier of crude oil. Bashir Jamoh, head of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), said “Deep Blue” had stemmed recorded kidnappings in the second quarter, after a record 130 sailors last year, compared with five in the rest of the world.īut there already have been 50 kidnappings logged this year and the U.S.
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