Cocaine Hoppers provides empirical evidence to explain the involvement of Nigerians in the global cocaine trade. Investigating the criminogenic environment created by the Nigerian ‘state crisis,’ Oboh traces the geographic, demographic, economic, historical, political, and cultural factors enhancing cocaine culture in Nigeria. Based on years of research, Oboh reveals this social network that relies on “reverse social capital” wherein wealth and power are achieved through illegal means solely to benefit the individual. This lively, theoretically grounded study examines the new trend of traffickers dominating the illicit cocaine trade through West Africa to destinations across the globe to provide an account of Nigerian involvement in international drug trafficking as it has never been divulged before. This book will be appreciated by criminologists, social scientists, policymakers, drug researchers and organized crime scholars. And eagerly be read by those interested in Nigeria, and problems of African immigrants, and in the international drug trafficking.

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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.