Amid reports of increasing piracy in West Africa, the governments of Benin and Nigeria are stepping up patrols to subdue the threat, according to an exclusive BBC report.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on Saturday released a report that said pirating, a common phenomenon around the Horn of Africa and in the Indian Ocean, is increasingly occurring in coastal areas off Benin in the Gulf of Guinea.
The agency’s director, Yury Fedotov, said in the report that the increase in pirate activities in the area constitute “worrying developments that we should take seriously.”
So far this year, 19 attacks have been recorded off Benin’s coast, whereas none were recorded last year, BBC reported.
Emmanual Ogbor, a Nigerian naval commander, told the BBC that Benin and Nigeria will conduct joint naval patrols to deal with the threat of piracy.
The BBC reported that Nigeria is taking the lead in the patrols, which last six months, by contributing six warships and helicopters while Benin will initially contribute two ships.
A Benin official said that attacks last year and this year have scared away ships adversely affecting the tiny nation’s economy.
By July, there had already been 266 pirate attacks recorded, a figure significantly higher than last year’s total of 196 attacks.
