Business at risk: understanding threats to informal maritime transportation system in the South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

There are several crimes considered minor but which usually result in other serious crimes when left unchallenged. This is the nature of the threats against informal maritime transportation system within the South-South region of Nigeria, which has evaded the attention of scholars in literature. Utilizing a mixed-method approach and the broken window theory, this article makes a case for the growing security concern against commercial motorboat operators on account of negligence of piracy against the major stakeholders of the informal maritime transportation system in Nigeria. The implication is that the South-South region has become a hotspot for various heinous crimes made possible because piracy against less privileged groups such as the commercial motorboat operators (considered as minor crime) was left almost unaddressed by the Nigerian state. As Nigeria strives to combat maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), mending its broken windows that permit for heinous crimes is central for achieving a stable economy that factors in the place of the less privileged in the society.