Nigeria loses $18bn yearly to illicit financial flows-NEITI

Nigeria is losing between $15billion and $18 bn every year to illicit financial flows (IFFs), the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Mr. Waziri Adio said yesterday.

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) which is a global challenge are simply monies legally earned but illegally transferred and vice versa, or monies illegally earned and also illegally transferred.

Speaking in Abuja at the launch of a report titled ‘Averting Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) in Nigeria’s Extractive Industry’ funded by the Trust Africa, Adio while referring to a 2015 report by the African Union Commission/ United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (AUC/ECA) said Nigeria accounted for 30.5 per cent of all illicit financial flows from Africa between 1970 and 2008.

He said the report further showed that Nigeria lost $217.7bn, about an average $5bn per year to the scourge within the period.

Adio, however, said, ‘the latest estimate talks about Africa losing about $50 to $60bn every year to illicit financial flows and it is estimated that Nigeria accounts for 30 per cent of that loss. That means that Nigeria is losing between $15 to $18bn every year to illicit financial flows.’’

‘’That is not a small amount of money by any stretch of the imagination. Just think about what difference that would have made to all the things that matter to us in this country,’’ he said adding that IFFs had become a strong talking point because these flows are depriving the countries that need them the most.

He explained that findings from the report showed that it was a matter of concern because the oil and gas accounts for 90 per cent of illicit financial flows out of Nigeria.

He said that because Nigeria relies heavily on the oil and gas sector revenues, high political influence and control as well as government bureaucracy were reasons for the vulnerabilities of the oil sector to IFFs.

Stakeholders made up of relevant government agencies, civil society groups and media at the launch of the report recommended for the establishment of a civil society network on illicit financial flows, an anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) framework, among others as a way of combating IFFs.