More security around the country’s coast means attacks on commercial vessels have dropped – but small fishing communities are facing brutal assault
were kidnapped in Ibaka district and were only released after a ransom of roughly 3.5 million naira was paid by their families.Francis Uyot, fisher
“We cannot count the number of times [pirates] have attacked us along this waterway. Many people have been killed,” says Francis Uyot, a fisher and tribal youth leader of Utan Udombo, a fishing community in Ibaka. Fishers are not the only ones affected, Uyot says. Travellers who commute along the water to other coastal communities and to neighbouring Cameroon for business also risk encountering pirates, who are believed to be local armed men. People who used boats to travel from Akwa Ibom to Cross River state, rather than take a longer journey along dilapidated roads, are now boycotting the waterways due to fear of attack.
Uyot said he knows people who are abandoning their livelihoods because they fear attack. Fishers in the region estimate they lost more than 200m naira last year, paying ransoms, replacing stolen goods and in protection money. Some fishing groups now pay pirates monthly levies of around 1.5m naira to be left alone.
The cost of boat engines can be as high as 3m naira. “People [are] suffering … to get the engine and go and fish, only for pirates to attack and collect them just like that.”Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development teamNewsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties.
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