Cocaine Hoppers

Oboh, a consultant for the Dutch Ministry of Justice and an international trade expert for Procter & Gamble, offers a study of Nigeria's role in the international network that connects the places where cocaine is produced to those where it is consumed. Much of this trade follows routes from South America to Europe, but Nigerian agents have found an important place for themselves within it. To understand this system, Oboh takes readers to countries such as Brazil, the Netherlands, China, and the US. Through interviews, press sources, and ethnographic observation, he describes Nigerians' roles as intermediaries, couriers, and much else. Most important, Oboh enumerates the conditions in Nigeria itself that push people into cocaine trafficking. Structural factors such as corruption and wealth inequality and historical considerations such as Nigeria's prominent place in the Atlantic world help explain why it has become a node in this international system. In readable prose, Oboh paints a portrait of how Nigeria's internal fault lines shape a much larger illicit economy. The author makes many excursions into theoretical terrain, some more successful than others. Suitable for those in criminology, public administration, and African studies. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals. * Choice Reviews * A groundbreaking and definitive work on the Nigerian cocaine trafficking ecosystem, particularly its interconnected global social and political impact. Oboh provides outstanding data and perspective for national policy implementation against the illegal drug trade and mitigating the malaise of illicit drugs. Students, scholars, and public policy practitioners in the criminal justice and criminology space will find this work highly relevant. -- Samuel Samiai Andrews, Albany State University