Maritime Piracy and Terrorism in Nigeria: A Case Study of NN Jubilee Ikot Abasi
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The Main Objective of the research is to appraise maritime piracy and terrorism in Nigeria. A case study of NN Jubilee Ikot Abasi; The specific objectives include:
- To determine the nature of maritime piracy and terrorism.
- To determine the level of maritime piracy and terrorism in Nigeria.
- To determine the role of NN Jubilee Ikot Abasi in curbing the activities of maritime piracy and terrorism in Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Eighty per cent of the world’s cargo is carried by sea on more than 112 000 ships manned by more than 1,5 million seafarers, and as the maritime domain is an unregulated area, ships and crew on these ships are vulnerable to maritime violence.2 Thousands of ports and harbour facilities serviced by hundreds of thousands of port staff are also vulnerable to maritime criminals and terrorists. Attacks by terrorists, pirates and criminals operating in the maritime environment also have the potential to affect global trade. Motive determines whether an incident will be classified as an act of piracy or as an act of terrorism. These motives are financial or material gain in the case of piracy, and political gain in the case of terrorism. For this reason, pirates and terrorists seldom cooperate in launching maritime attacks. In comparing maritime terrorism and piracy, several other factors than motive will be investigated. Factors such as the choice of target, tactics and the use of violence will differ between maritime terrorism and piracy because of the motives behind the actions. Other factors will display similarities as both groups operate in the maritime domain using boats or ships in their operations, although the choice of vessels may differ and may be determined by the type of operation. In both cases, the socio-economic and political conditions in the host countries will contribute to the existence of maritime terrorism and piracy, and both groups will operate from a land base. As a result of the terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001, maritime piracy and terrorism were increasingly linked and became highly controversial subjects. Countries fear that a captured ship could be used as a delivery platform for WMD or that a ship with dangerous cargo itself could be used as a weapon. Many questions however remain. It could be asked whether enough similarities exist to link piracy and maritime terrorism. This article will give an overview of the historical and current extent of maritime piracy, armed robbery of ships and maritime terrorism and will proceed to investigate similarities, differences and connections between pirates and terrorists operating in the maritime domain and the likelihood of cooperation between these groups. In order to distinguish between piracy, acts of armed robbery of ships and maritime terrorism it is necessary to define these concepts and identify the origins of these definitions.
The Concept of Maritime Terrorism, Piracy and Armed Robbery of Ships
Both the United Nations (UN)’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) currently use the definition of piracy as described in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). UNCLOS defines piracy as: (a) Any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed: Scientia Militaria on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft; (ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State; (b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft; and (c) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b). According to this definition, piracy is limited to acts outside the jurisdiction of the coastal waters of a state. Acts committed in coastal waters are considered armed robbery.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This section covers the methods used to address the objectives of the study. The section discusses the research design, research population and sampling technique, the instrument for data collection, the method of data analysis and the analytical software used for the study.
Research Design
In this study, a survey research design is adopted. Survey is chosen based on the objectives of the study. Survey is defined according to Nworgu (2005) a survey studies the sampling of individual units from an already known population and its associated survey data collection techniques, such as questionnaire construction and methods for improving the number and accuracy of responses to survey.
Population of the Study
The population of this study comprises all personnel of the NN jubilee, Ikot Abasi.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
This section presents the results of the field study; it shows the descriptive information of the respondents, the results of each of the research questions and the test of hypotheses.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
This study focused on Maritime Piracy and Terrorism in Nigeria. A Case Study of NN Jubilee Ikot Abasi. The study was set to address three research objectives. The objectives which include:
- To determine the nature of maritime piracy and terrorism.
- To determine the level of maritime piracy and terrorism in Nigeria.
- To determine the roles of NN Jubilee Ikot Abasi in curbing the activities of maritime piracy and terrorism in Nigeria.
Based on the above stated objectives and the study carried out, the following findings were made:
- that piracy endangers civilians, can disrupt the economy, encourages corruption, and could trigger an environmental disaster.
- that piracy and maritime terrorism are on the rise.
- that Stationing house boats in various creeks and estuaries for easy patrolling; the use of locally produced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for air surveillance of Nigerian coastal waters and relevant international conventions on piracy and armed robbery at sea are implemented are the roles of NN Jubilee Ikot Abasi in curbing the activities of maritime piracy and terrorism in Nigeria.
Conclusion
The main purpose of this study is to assess Maritime Piracy and Terrorism in Nigeria. A Case Study of NN Jubilee Ikot Abasi. The study was set to address three research objectives. Three research questions guided the study.
In this study, a survey research design was adopted, the population comprises all personnel of the NN jubilee, Ikot Abasi, a simple random sampling technique was used to select 28 respondents for the study and a questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. Relevant literatures were reviewed which guided the objectives and methodology of this study. As result of the field study and analysis of results, the following findings were made:
- that piracy endangers civilians, can disrupt the economy, encourages corruption, and could trigger an environmental disaster.
- that piracy and maritime terrorism are on the rise.
- that Stationing house boats in various creeks and estuaries for easy patrolling; the use of locally produced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for air surveillance of Nigerian coastal waters and relevant international conventions on piracy and armed robbery at sea are implemented are the roles of NN Jubilee Ikot Abasi in curbing the activities of maritime piracy and terrorism in Nigeria.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made:
- One of the findings of this study reveal that piracy and maritime terrorism are on the rise, therefore this study suggests that legal and operational measures should be currently put in place to combat piracy.
- In addition to this, the UNCLOS, SUA Convention and SUA Protocol should be implemented; the Conventions when implemented, can to a large extent, solve the piracy problem in Nigeria.
- Furthermore, piracy can be reduced if land based problems are addressed.
REFERENCES
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- Ali, K. (2014). Maritime security cooperation in the Gulf of Guinea: Prospects and challenges. Retrieved August 25, 2017, from http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5102&context=theses
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- Ashiru, T. (2016, May 13). What is causing the increase in piracy along the Nigerian coast? The Guardian. Retrieved July 23, 2017, from https://guardian.ng/business-services/security-watch/what-is-causing-theincrease-in-piracy-along-the-nigerian-coast/