Increasing threat of Nigerian piracy

The latest report from Control Risks has outlined an increasing risk of piracy and armed robbery at sea within Nigeria.

Piracy between January and April has increased by 119 per cent in the area when compared to the same period in 2015. 25 per cent of these incidents occurred along internal waterways.

In particular the waters near Bayelsa State were the most dangerous, with more than half of the recorded incidents occurring there.

Chemical tankers were involved in the most incidents at 26 per cent and 56 per cent of recorded incidents involved oilfield and tanker vessels.

The number of kidnaps per month has risen to three, trebling the 2015 rate of one per month.