Newsie Events Media :
Port Harcourt, Nigeria — In a landmark international engagement on maritime security in the Niger Delta, distinguished scholar and first-class sociologist Gospel Edoho led a delegation of Akwa Ibom researchers to a high-level validation workshop convened by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and its research partner, Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN).
The two-day workshop, held from February 25–26, 2026, at Swiss International Hotel in Port Harcourt, forms part of a broader policy-driven initiative on Global Maritime Crime in the Niger Delta, under Denmark’s Maritime Security Programme for the Gulf of Guinea, supported through the Embassy of Denmark (Foreign Affairs).
The programme brought together leading scholars, maritime security experts, and development practitioners from across Nigeria to validate findings from an extensive field study examining the diverse and often overlooked roles of women in sea piracy and riverine criminal activities in the Niger Delta.
Speaking at the close of the sessions, Edoho expressed gratitude to renowned researcher, Professor Raimi Lasisi for the opportunity to contribute to the global initiative. He called for a critical reassessment of government-led reintegration and intervention programmes targeting militancy and maritime crime.
Edoho emphasized that achieving sustainable peace in the Niger Delta requires policies that incentivize lawful and peaceful behavior, rather than systems that may inadvertently reward militancy. He cautioned that past measures—such as amnesty schemes and political patronage extended to former militant leaders—risk reinforcing what he described as “militia capitalism,” a cycle capable of encouraging renewed criminal mobilization.
Contributing to the discourse, Dr. Tommy Enodien, key player at the Ethical and Attitudinal Reorientation Commission (EARCOM) in Akwa Ibom State, firmly noted that findings from his personal research on “Transborder Arms Proliferation and Insecurity in Selected Border Communities in Nigeria” aligned strongly with the workshop’s conclusions. Giving the validated findings that deep-offshore piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has declined significantly since its 2020–2021 peak, largely due to improved international naval cooperation and strengthened regional security frameworks living riverine criminality on rampage.
However, experts warned that coastal piracy and riverine criminality are on the rise, posing evolving threats to local communities and vital maritime trade routes across the Niger Delta.
A major highlight of the study was the critical yet underreported role of women in maritime criminal networks. Researchers revealed that women often serve as key enablers of such operations, engaging in logistics coordination, intelligence gathering, provision of safe havens, emotional support systems, and the strategic use of gender stereotypes to bypass security detection.
Participants described the workshop as both insightful and impactful, stressing the urgent need for security policies that incorporate gender-sensitive perspectives. The forum also provided a platform for cross-sector collaboration, enabling scholars and practitioners to exchange ideas and propose innovative strategies for addressing the shifting dynamics of maritime insecurity.
The initiative underscores a growing international commitment to tackling maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea, a region of immense strategic importance to global trade and energy security.
Stakeholders expressed optimism that the validated research will inform future policy frameworks, community-based interventions, and regional cooperation efforts aimed at curbing piracy and strengthening maritime governance in the Niger Delta.
For every participating experts, the engagement reaffirmed the value of evidence-based research and collaborative policy dialogue in addressing the complex and evolving security challenges facing coastal communities in Nigeria and the wider Gulf of Guinea.
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