Safety, Security, Crime & Emergency Numbers

Nigeria’s biggest issues are those in political corruption, piracy, financial crime and organized crime, the latter of which being most frequent.
Organized crime is responsible for much of the drugs trafficking and violence in the region, as well as the drug trafficking worldwide. What are even more disturbing are the campus cults, or confraternities, academics that turn to gang-related crime as part of a cult-like behaviour.

Financial crime is most prevalent in a type of bank fraud called 419, also known as the Nigerian Scam. The scam involves convincing the victim that they will receive a large sum of money in return for their bank details and a seemingly-nominal fee in comparison to the sum of money itself, in actuality the victim never receives any money and instead their account is often hijacked and drained.

Piracy, despite being less significant, is still prevalent in the region and usually involves sea-bound attacks on smaller ships, often stealing oil and holding employees or passengers for random. During 2007, over 26 pirate attacks took place in Nigerian waters.

Political corruption has become better with time but the effects are still being felt with over $400 billion being stolen from Nigeria’s treasury by its leaders during the 20^th Century. Transparency International ranks Nigeria as the 143^rd least corrupt country in the world out of 182 countries. 

Emergency Numbers

• General Emergency - 199