The maritime sector has continued to play great economic and developmental roles in the Gulf of Guinea and the world at large. These roles are however challenged by a series of maritime Transnational Organised Crimes (TOCs) such as piracy, human trafficking/smuggling, terrorism at sea, money laundering, Illegal, Unreported And Unregulated Fishing (IUU) and illegal bunkering, among others. With a 50 per cent surge in maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea, the United Nations Development Programme considers the situation dire, OLUDARE RICHARDS reports.

The spate of piracy and maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) continues to stir grave concerns. The upward push of about 50 per cent in piracy and maritime crimes recorded for the first nine months of 2023 signposts increasing danger within the axis and therefore tasks maritime actors to step up efforts at combating all forms of crime in the coastal area. Findings showed that 65 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were recorded in the first half of the year 2023 as against 58 incidents recorded within the same period in 2022. Of the 65 incidents reported, 57 vessels were boarded, four had attempted attacks, two were hijacked and two were fired upon.

The UNDP said anti-piracy and other maritime crimes has been a source of concern to not only Nigeria, but also international business actors, who move their goods and services to other countries through the sea.

According to UNDP Team Lead, Governance, Peace and Security, Mr. Matthew Alao, “there is an upsurge in this crime and criminality in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), especially to the lives of the crew at sea, because within a period of nine months of last year, about 70 crew members were victims of piracy and maritime crimes; 54 were taken hostages, 14 were kidnapped and two were injured.”

Alao made this disclosure during an Anti-Piracy and Prevention of Maritime Crimes Course organised by the Martin Luther Agwai International Leadership and Peacekeeping Centre (MLAILPKC) at the Nigerian Army School of Finance in Lagos.

“This astronomical increase in the piracy and maritime crimes reported by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) in GoG is a wakeup call to all maritime actors to step up efforts at combating piracy and all forms of crimes and criminalities in GoG coastal areas,” Alao said.

He said the urgent need to tackle the upsurge prompted intervention in the training of core stakeholders from countries around the GoG by the MLAILPKC through the initiative funded by the Government of Japan since 2021 to address maritime security and broader crimes that happen at sea.

He noted that the MLAILPKC has been consistent in efforts to strengthen its capacity to run courses in anti-piracy since it was commissioned by the UNDP and the Government of Japan in 2021 to undertake the assignment. The courses, according to the UNDP, seeks to complement global, regional and national authorities’ visions and efforts at combating the menace of pirates and other maritime crimes in the GoG region.

MLAILPKC, with technical collaboration from the Nigerian Navy, has trained 117 beneficiaries in four past courses organised between 2021 and 2023 project cycle.

The most recent course, which ran for two weeks, was inaugurated on November 20, 2023, marking the fifth course conducted by the centre since the project’s inception in 2021.

Alao explained further that the course, being a timely intervention, would strengthen the skills and knowledge of the participants on anti-piracy and prevention of maritime crimes and also complement the resilient interventions of other players in the GoG region.

Commandant of the MLAILPKC, Brigadier General Obinna Godwin Onubogu, said the maritime course series, which had been running consecutively since 2021 in Jaji, Kaduna State, was organised in Lagos to enhance the training experience by taking advantage of the maritime environment to conduct practical lessons at sea on anti-piracy.

“We also have support from the Nigerian Navy, who will be helping us with some of those practical demonstrations in Lagos here,” the commandant said.
Onubogu said participants on the current course run were drawn from four countries comprising Ghana, Benin, Togo and Nigeria. Other participants were drawn from the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

He noted though that the MLAILPKC trains participants, particularly from West African countries in areas that cover all aspects of maritime security, the current course run is done in a specialised capacity to focus more on piracy issues around the GoG.

“We have participants from the Ghanaian Navy, Beninoise Navy and even the Maritime Police of Nigeria. Each one will take a bit of the programme that they have learned and go back to the organisations and implement what they learned and their leaders and the heads of the organisations will see the impact that these participants will have at the end of this course,” he said.

He added that it would equally consolidate the gains of the past four anti-piracy courses conducted by MLAILPKC in collaboration with partners from the GoG countries.

“The intervention will reinforce synergies and partnership among GoG countries to combat piracy and maritime crimes; promote international trades and ensure economic stability of the GoG member states and of their coastal communities,” he noted.

Chief of Training Army, Maj. Gen. Sanni G. Mohammed, who was represented by Brig. Gen. Julius E. Osifo, said the challenge being faced in the maritime sector, including maritime crimes such as piracy, requires creating a safe maritime environment that would remain an area of special interest for various governments along the GoG.

“Security is important to the sector because the maritime sector has always played an important role in the economy of governments of the Gulf of Guinea and enormous trans-shipping and fishing activities take place in this sector with huge developmental impacts on their national economies,” Osifo said.

The Guardian gathered that the intervention of the UNDP, MLAILPKC and the Government of Japan was apt, especially as the Commercial Crime Services of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) reported that perpetrators of crime in the GoG in recent time successfully boarded 90 per cent of targeted vessels. It was further gathered that violence towards crew continued with 36 taken hostage, 14 kidnapped, three threatened, two injured and one assaulted.

The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) had raised its concern on the resurgence of reported incidents in the GoG waters and the increase in incidents in the Singapore Straits in its mid-year report for 2023.

IMB Director, Michael Howlett, said: “The resurgence in reported incidents including hostage situations and crew kidnappings in the Gulf of Guinea waters is concerning. The IMB calls for continued, robust, regional and international naval presence as a deterrent to address these crimes.”

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has also raised alarm over upsurge in maritime crimes, saying it presents a significant challenge to coastal nations like Bangladesh, encompassing issues such as drug trafficking, illegal fishing, trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.

The UNODC, in response to the threats, developed an integrated training package aimed at equipping maritime law enforcement agencies and criminal justice actors with the skills and knowledge needed to combat maritime crime and ensure a legal finish.

In September 2023, 21 members from the Bangladesh Coast Guard, Department of Narcotics Control, Police (River Police, Criminal Investigation Division and Police Bureau of Investigation), involved in the law enforcement and forensic fields, joined a five-day training programme.

The training was aimed at providing a comprehensive understanding on the procedures for collecting, storing, preserving and documenting evidence, including crime scene management, role of physical evidence, maritime evidence, crime scene documentation, crime scene photography, crime scene sketching, biological evidence and more.

For this purpose, and to align training activities with international practices in maritime law enforcement, UNODC partnered with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), bringing an active Law Enforcement Advisor under the Transnational Crimes Unit in NCIS Bahrain, directly supporting evidence collection during maritime law enforcement operations in the Arabian Sea.

The course was delivered under UNODC’s Integrated Training Package developed by its Global Maritime Crime Programme, which serves as a comprehensive initiative that combines a maritime interdiction course and a mock crime scene exercise with evidence handling training, evidence package preparation and prosecution mentoring, culminating in a simulated trial; all with the purpose of strengthening the capabilities of all criminal justice actors involved to ensure legal finish of maritime crimes.

As such, the trainees had the opportunity to participate in a mock crime scene on board a vessel at a pier in Shyampur, in the Buriganga River. Following the simulation, UNODC and NCIS are currently providing mentoring for the preparation of evidence package, which will be used during a simulated trial scheduled for early October.

The Singapore Strait recorded the world’s largest number of reported piracy and armed robbery attempts in the first half of 2023, though most were low-level crimes, according to a report in June 2023.

According to the Maritime Security Threat Advisory, West Africa experienced an uncharacteristic departure from an earlier declining trend of incidents. The advisory stated that prolonged absence of incidents in the region witnessed a return of kidnapping and a number of low-level robberies. Of notable significance was the attack on two fishing vessels and subsequent attack and kidnap of the MV OYA on the Wouri river in Cameroun.

The advisory noted that in the past, several abduction cases had occurred on various vessels in Cameroun’s anchorage areas, including an attack in 2017 near Bonny Island, Nigeria. To counter these threats, both the Cameroun Navy and the country’s Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) had to provide security for fishing vessels operating within Cameroun’s waters.

Regarding illegal fishing, the challenge it poses in West Africa is on three levels. First, it jeopardises the management of fish stock by disrupting regulatory processes. To achieve a sustainable fishing sector, countries must manage the growth and depletion of fish stocks, enforce safety and operational rules, and delineate areas for fishing and conservation.

Illegal fishing undermines emerging blue economy initiatives across Africa, costing states billions in lost revenue. Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone alone lose US$2.3 billion annually to illegal fishing.

The second challenge is the damage to food security in coastal communities, where fish provide a significant source of sustenance and, for some, their only income. And thirdly, illegal fishing erodes community trust in law enforcement, creating a sense of lawlessness and neglect. This is an environment in which organised crime thrives, and together with a loss of livelihoods, can fuel local-level violence and other criminality.

For instance, rampant illegal fishing off Somalia’s coast, coupled with lawlessness, resulted in local fishers taking up arms to attack foreign fishing vessels in Somali waters. These vigilante groups were one of the precursors to piracy in the region. This serves as a warning to West Africa, where continuous coastal instability could worsen the piracy situation.

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