Nigeria is losing a fortune to pirates

Estimates that nation has lost $135 billion to pirates in three years.

Nigeria loses N21.6 trn to piracy in three years

By Godwin Oritse

FOLLOWING the increased activities of the pirates in the nation’s coastal and territorial waters, Nigeria lost a total of N21.6 trillion to the sea robberies in three years.

Disclosing this at a maritime security and safety symposium in Lagos , Professor Charles Ukeje of the International Relation Department of the Obafemi Awolowo University, said that the figure will continue to rise if urgent steps were not taken to check mate these criminals

Ukeje, in his paper titled ‘Economic Implications of Piracy and other Crimes to the Maritime Industry and the Nigerian Economy’ noted that except for 2007 and 2013, the number of pirate attacks on African waters exceeded the global figures in all cases, by more than double. Drawing insights from the Contemporary Maritime Piracy Database (CMPD) between 2001-10, the University don further disclosed that a recent study on ‘The Changing Nature of Contemporary Maritime Piracy’ published in the British Journal of Criminology (2014) identified the location of piracy, time of attack, target vessel characteristics, motivation for piracy, and capacity to strike over long distances, as some of the emerging trends in pirate attack.

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Source: vanguardngr.com