A university don, Professor Fidelis Allen has blamed conflict merchants for frustrating efforts at checkmating organized crime in the Gulf of Guinea security corridor.

Prof. Allen said this on Friday, April 28, 2023 while delivering a paper titled “Combating Organized Crime in the Gulf of Guinea, Security and Development” at a One-Day National Conference on Organized Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea organised by the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

This is just as other speakers called on the Gulf of Guinea Commission and other relevant bodies to be deliberate in contemplating implementable solutions to end organized crime in the Gulf of Guinea, which Nigeria is a part of.

The erudite scholar, who is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Nigeria, pointed out that since the emergence of conflictprenuers, who described as “those who create conditions that enable conflict to secure material benefits,” organized crime has evolved into an industry that poses a complex problem.

He averred that the launch of a Network on Organized Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea as illustrative of the importance of expert views and civil society in policy making, positing that policy makers, whom he described as the ‘policy community’, must go beyond declaratory statements to acting more decisively and also be expanded beyond state actors alone and incorporate other stakeholders to combat the problem and drive the needed change.

Speaking, Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Fyneface Dumnamene said that organized crime within the Gulf of Guinea, which manifests in forms of pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, artisanal refining, illegal bunkering, kidnapping, banditry and insurgency, were perpetrated by cartels which establish and operate illegal networks across borders and profit at great public expense.

He said YEAC-NIGERIA is worried about the impact of organized crime hence their focus on advocacy that proffers solutions to the menace in the local communities and the Gulf of Guinea, stating that these include i) Convening a national conference on organized crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea ii) Modular refinery advocacy iii) proposing a presidential crude oil refining development initiative (PACORDI) and solar mini-grid electricity facilities, and iv) launching a network on organized crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (NOCINAG), among others.

A participant at the conference, Sunny Dada called for a thorough investigation of the moral credentials of political leaders saddled with the responsibility of securing local communities, especially, in areas of transparency and accountability in the management and deployment of security votes as mechanisms to curb organized crime and criminality.

A legal practitioner, Joe Ibrahim Ikiri said organized crime thrives around the Gulf of Guinea (formerly Bight of Biafra) because those saddled with the responsibility of securing the area are culpable.

Earlier in his opening remarks, YEAC-Nigeria’s Research and Development Officer, Frank Karikpo, expressed optimism that the knowledge and experience of stakeholders at the conference will be robust in proffering solutions to the issue of organized crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea.

“It is our expectation that the outcome of this conference will significantly strengthen community based advocacy and resilience against organized crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea.”

Highpoint of the conference, which had in attendance participants drawn from civil society organisations, Nigeria Customs Service, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the Media, security agencies, and the political class, was the unveiling of the Network on Organized Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (NOCINAG) and the issuing of a communiqué.