Security Consolidation in the Gulf of Guinea: The Need to Engage AFRICOM Better Through the SECLOMTS Model

Abstract

The problem of maritime piracy has assumed very disturbing dimensions in recent years.  For Africa, developments off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden have shown that the menace can pose real challenges to the development of whole regions.  As the international community focuses attention on maintaining maritime sanity in the Gulf of Aden, the menace of piracy, this time with its associated evils, are gradually creeping into the Gulf of Guinea.  Several scholars have advanced strategies intended to help halt this trend, but have failed to recognize the need for the proper engagement of AFRICOM in this enterprise. This paper highlights the immense negative socio-economic impact that bad order at sea is having on the Gulf of Guinea and concludes by reiterating the need for the Gulf States to engage AFRICOM in a more proactive manner based on the SECLOMTS model.

Keywords: Piracy, AFRICOM, West Africa.