UNDERSTANDING WEST AFRICA MARITIME SECURITY THREATS

A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PIRACY AND ARMED ROBBERY AT SEA IN THE GULF OF GUINEA

Abstract

This article explores the prevailing maritime security threats in West Africa. Specifically, it examines the development of piracy and armed robbery at sea as a critical existential threat to maritime domain assets, security and development in the Gulf of Guinea. The disproportionate and geometrically progressive spates of attacks by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea in general and particularly off the coast of Nigeria’ Niger Delta region have attracted not just national or regional concerns, but the international community to this emerging threat to global security, prompting this maritime domain to be nabbed a new danger zone. This article argues that these nefarious activities are not just a security issue at sea but symptomatically a product of poor governance and state failure which is land-based. Among other factors responsible for piracy and armed robbery at sea in the Gulf of Guinea discussed in this paper is political marginalisation, corruption, poverty, unemployment, income inequality, politicisation of institutions and policies, globalisation, lack of coherent justice system and security architecture to mention a few. The article further suggest that what should be done by GoG (Gulf of Guinea) states is to develop the maritime sector and use it as viable instrument for their foreign policy; improve governance performance, enhance the capability and coordination of States and regional maritime security architecture, and the justice system for effective administration of justice.