Piracy is a global crime which impedes the free movement of ships containing people and goods, with its attendant economic ramifications. The perpetrators are usually heavily armed, with sophisticated weapons to enable them to hijack a vessel or vessels and redirect them to their desired location for the payment of an expected ransom. This paper thematically explores contemporary piracy in the African state of Nigeria, the Niger Delta and the Gulf of Guinea. Nigeria is undeniably a rich country based on its economic, agricultural and population advantages, but criminal activities like piracy have been a significant disadvantage. Most of the piracy activities happening in Nigeria are mainly located in the Niger Delta region, the heart of Nigeria's oil and gas exploration. Some of the unemployed youths of the region use piracy activities as a fightback against the so-called "resource control" embarked upon by the Federal Government of Nigeria, which disadvantages them.

Nigerian criminologists always turn to Western criminological theories in studying crime and criminal behavior. Even in cases where Western criminological theories cannot fully account for the phenomenon or phenomena under investigation, they often employ those established theories because there are no local options. In the light of a study of convicted armed robbers in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos, Nigeria, this chapter argues that Western theoretical perspectives are insufficient to explain crime and criminal behavior in the Nigerian social structure. The chapter proposes the development of Nigerian criminology to explain crime and criminal behavior in a uniquely Nigerian manner.