ABSTRACT
Powerful and sophisticated criminal syndicates based in Nigeria have extensive networks reaching into the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Russia, and the newly independent states, Southeast and Southwest Asia, Australia, and other countries in Africa. This chapter looks to determine if the movement of Nigerian criminals online may strengthen or weaken this relationship. It briefly examines the political–criminal nexus, tracing it through the evolution over the last 100 years of four crime types which are synonymous with Nigeria. It examines if online Nigerian organised criminals and criminality hold the same mantle as they do in the offline world, and if so, will try to assess what this might mean for Nigeria, its people, and Nigerian OC in Nigeria. The 1980s are often suggested to be the period when Nigerian OC established itself both home and abroad. Corruption is synonymous with Nigeria and has been for decades, predating independence in the 1960s.
