Maritime security firm Protection Group International (PGI) has suggested a government crackdown in Nigeria on oil theft is fuelling kidnapping and sabotage attacks in the Niger Delta.
Since October 2015 there has been a notable increase in recorded kidnappings at sea in the Gulf of Guinea, as regional militant gangs move away from oil theft as their preferred source of revenue.
“The changing pattern of criminality is partly the result of a government crackdown on oil theft, but it is also indicative of a wider upsurge in militancy in the Niger Delta relating to the prosecution of prominent militant leader Government Ekpemupolo,” PGI said in a release today.
“Incidents of bombings, kidnappings and acts of piracy will continue to grow in the Niger Delta over the next six months, particularly in the event of a confrontation between militant groups and the Nigerian military,” the firm added.
Since mid-January there has been a notable uptick in reported incidents of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, with many of the incidents involving the kidnap of crew. PGI recorded four attacks on ships at sea that involved successful kidnappings in January, compared to one per month from October to December 2015. During the same period (October 2015-February 2016) there were no major oil cargo thefts, in what represents a continuation of a long-term decline in hijackings for the purposes of oil theft in the Gulf of Guinea over the past 18 months.
