Why Nigeria’s election year may see a spike in pirate attacks

Pirate attacks in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea are increasing as Nigeria gears up for the general elections scheduled for February. Mr. Hans Tino Hansen, CEO at Risk Intelligence, explains that ransoms from hijacked ships and revenues from oil theft commonly are used to fuel the campaigns. The relationship between elections and piracy in Nigeria is similar to a ‘feudal system’, and politicians have been accused of covering up and protecting pirates in exchange for a cut of their revenue, which then is used to finance election campaigns. Large revenues can be made in the Gulf of Guinea, and what happens in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, can have an enormous regional impact. Data collected by Risk Intelligence indicates that Nigerian piracy accounts for 71 percent of all incidents in West Africa, and the methods used by Nigerian pirates are highly profitable. Pirates that succeed to hijack a product tanker and transfer the cargo into another tanker may earn up to $6 to $8 million in a weeklong operation – potentially generating as much as $30 million per year for pirates and militants.