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The two men in the motorized wooden canoe look around carefully as they leave a shipwreck in the Lagos Lagoon, the oil drums on board barely hidden under rags.
The rusty carcbad of iron and peeling paint has been battered by the elements and is half submerged in water. Shoots of green shoots on the deck indicate how long it has been abandoned.
But on closer inspection, the wreck is a functioning storage facility for stolen or "stolen" oil, as it is known in Nigeria.
"Oladele", a 30 year old man who did not want to publish his real name, has been riding his boat since the age of 15.
He says it is not the only wreck that stores oil illegally imported into the port by huge oil tankers delivering gasoline and gas, which are then sold to neighboring Benin and Togo.
"All the ships will do it, they will declare 10 tons but bring 12," he told AFP.
"We will store them in the tanks, deep in wrecks, then at night we will usually pick them up."
Intermediaries can generally make between $ 80 and $ 180 per trip for several years. "It's a big deal," he said.
Marine cemetery
Dozens of wrecks in the water courses, coastal waters and beaches of Lagos have turned part of its shores into a marine cemetery.
In Kiri-Kiri, the lagoon corridor, many shipwrecks and discarded ship waste provide a useful cover for concealing illicit goods and barrels of oil and gas.
From there, the waters offer an easy route along the coast from Lagos to Benin and beyond. The expensive scrap recovered from unmanned wrecks can be sold for thousands of dollars.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, producing about two million barrels a day.
But a lack of fully functional refineries means that the crude is exported, processed and imported for use.
Much of it is routed through the narrow sea corridor to Lagos. Hundreds of ships are waiting days on the horizon of the Gulf of Guinea to enter the port and unload their goods.
On the way back and forth, they cross the skeletons of scuttled and abandoned ships, some of which capsized because of effects on the tides of the wrecks.
It is also suspected that, in the context of lax maritime regulations, companies view Lagos waters as a ship-waste storage site, thus avoiding incurring the expense of scrapping old ships.
Experts say the wrecks act like spikes, stopping the flow of sand offshore and accelerating erosion.
The lack of water regulations has also contributed to the development of illegal activities, turning ghost ships into hiding places for the criminals of the sea.
Wrecks are a perfect hiding place for traffickers. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP)
Small groups of former crewmen sit on several wrecks, housed in dark, disused cabins, watching over those looking to strip the ships of their precious waste.
One crew member, who asked not to be identified, said that he and three others had worked shifts to stay in the cabin all day and all night for 15 months after the sinking of the ship.
Copper and bronze as well as the brbad of the ship's propeller could be sold for 20,000,000 naira ($ 55,000), he said.
"People will come and steal valuables that are still there," he added.
Control the waters
The Nigerian Agency for Maritime Administration and Security, which oversees the country's waterways, says it is proactive in eliminating the hundreds of likely shipwrecks, but admits that their disposal is expensive.
Taibat Lawanson, professor of urban planning at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said the price of the move was prohibitive.
"Because taking them off is so expensive, neither the state government nor the federal government takes enough responsibility to remove them," he said.
Small groups of naval officers, some wearing t-shirts in uniform, others bare bads in the sun, bask on top decks of confiscated vessels.
Tunji Adejumo, landscape architect and ecologist at UNILAG, said the navy had become the main coastal surveillance agency.
"Still, despite everything, many of these shipping companies are able to avoid liability for leaving their wrecks in the water," he said.
"These wrecks are detrimental to the aesthetics of the shoreline, they degrade over time, they are spilled but rarely treated, and they have serious effects on the environment."
Night curfew
At Lighthouse Beach, an almost silent getaway lined with large beach houses, a wreck at the end of the shoreline has been a landmark for visitors for years.
Some of the wrecks have become refuges for marine wildlife – others are dangerous, above and below the waves. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP)
In some parts of the waterways, scuba diving and spearfishing take advantage of the aesthetics of wrecks and the aquatic life that they attract.
However, many wrecks, below sea level and invisible above, present many dangers.
There is an 18-hour curfew for commercial vessels, which is imposed in part to prevent accidents.
White flags are hoisted on some of the underwater wrecks to warn nearby craft, but most have no visible warning signs, which means that pilots need to remember where they are.
"It can be dangerous to drive the boats at night," Oladele said.
"But the curfew also protects all those crazy activities you would see if you traveled here after dark."
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