A report by a U.S. foundation, Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP), has said that piracy and armed robbery in 2015 in Nigeria, Togo Ghana and other countries in the Gulf of Guinea reached $719.6 million.
The report added that pirate gangs in West Africa were switching to kidnapping sailors and demanding ransom rather than stealing oil cargoes.
The OBP report noted that it had become difficult to sell stolen oil because of the low oil prices, which is less profitable.
In its annual report, OBP stated that some ransoms of up to N80 million ($400,000) were paid to pirates in the Gulf of Guinea in 2015.
It stressed that the 2014 cost was $983 million, 47 per cent of which was borne by the maritime sector.
The report revealed that in 2015, the Gulf of Guinea was the third most dangerous maritime area of the globe.
It noted: “Since January 1, 2016, there has been a 36 percent increase in reported incidents compared to the same period in 2015, while the number of people kidnapped from ships already matches the total for the whole of 2015.”
It added that the region was the most dangerous in the world for seafarers, with pirates becoming more violent.
The OBP report added that a total of 32 seafarers had been kidnapped so far this year compared to 15 in 2015.
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