Ivory Coast, Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone joined Nigeria in May 2026 to activate a Combined Maritime Task Force for the Gulf of Guinea, a regional response to a threat that has proven stubbornly persistent even as Nigeria itself marks four consecutive years without a piracy incident in its own territorial waters. ECOWAS followed in August 2026 with plans for a dedicated regional force to combat armed groups operating at sea.
The coordination comes after a string of incidents elsewhere in the Gulf: sixteen passengers were kidnapped from an unflagged vessel and later recovered by the Nigerian navy in March 2026, while nine crew members were abducted from the Portuguese-flagged LPG carrier CGAS Saturn in December 2025. The US Maritime Administration continues to advise heightened vigilance for vessels transiting the wider Gulf of Guinea despite the security gains closer to Nigerian waters.
Source: MARAD — https://www.maritime.dot.gov/msci/2026-009-gulf-guinea-piracyarmed-robberykidnapping-ransom
