Cocaine Hoppers: The Nigerian Involvement in the Global Cocaine Trade

Abstract

In recent decades, Nigerian criminal drug ‘barons’ and ‘gangs’ have come to dominate international cocaine trafficking via West Africa to destination countries globally, a trend that presents a serious security threat to Africa and the world. This work provides empirical evidence to define and explain the role of Nigerians in a new style of illicit brokerage in supplying global demands for cocaine. Beginning with an investigation into the criminogenic environment created by the Nigerian ‘state crisis,’ this work traces the geographic, demographic, economic, historical, political, and cultural factors that have contributed to the cocaine culture in Nigeria. These elements have led to a society that relies on ‘reverse social capital,’ wherein wealth and power are achieved through illegal means, and solely benefit the individual. The author further argues that Nigerian cocaine traffickers take advantage of the country’s richness, better economy, modern infrastructure, and contemporary technological advancements; employ extended, flexible networks of relatives, friends, and acquaintances; incorporate specific cultural practices (e.g. consumption of foodstuffs that facilitate the swallowing of cocaine); and utilize excelling entrepreneurial skills in order to establish a global trafficking network, all of which are reasons why Nigerian cocaine traffickers are sought after by their South American and Asian counterparts. Exceptionally, however, they see their activity simply as a trade opportunity based on the market forces of covert demand and supply. Yet many Nigerians are serving time in prisons around the world for drug trafficking, much of which can be attributed to side effects of development in Nigeria. This research addresses the root causes that have led to Nigerians’ enthusiasm for international cocaine trafficking, especially in relation with Brazil and China and the mechanisms that strengthen it by conducting extensive interviews with Nigerian drug traffickers, law enforcement agents (in Nigeria and abroad), politicians, and the Nigerian Diaspora. It concludes that further emphasis should be placed on addressing the use of Nigeria’s wealth in diversifying the economy by creating employment opportunities and a basic infrastructure that could provide jobs as deterrent factor for the pool of potential drug traffickers in the international cocaine trade. This work has no readymade ‘solution’ to the problem, but it has opened an initial debate by providing insights into the role of Nigerians in international cocaine trafficking, thereby paving the way for further analytical and policy-centered research.