‘Illicit financial flows aiding terrorist activities, insecurity’

Proliferation of illicit financial flows enables terrorist activities and increases insecurity from the Lake Chad region and spanning the entire Sahel region; the Chairman, Board of Governors at the Institute of Directors’ Centre for Corporate Governance (IOD CCG), Alhaji Shuaibu Idris, has submitted.

The IOD CCG, with support from the Centre for International Private Enterprises (CIPE), yesterday convened a roundtable discussion on the topic: “Public/Private Sector Dialogue on Strengthening Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Terrorist Financing ((AML/CFT) and Curbing Illicit Financial Flows in Nigeria and West Africa”.

The focal point of the discussion was empowering “gatekeepers” and weakening “enablers” of money laundering and terrorist financing.

In his remarks at the meeting, Alhaji Shuaibu admitted that the nation’s economy had suffered set back due to endemic corruption, incessant money laundering and terrorism financing that had bedevilled it for many years. He, therefore, stated that tackling illicit financial flows was a matter of survival for Africa’s development.

According to him, Africa loses about five per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually to illicit capital flights; adding that the losses to economic growth, trade opportunities and social development was unquantifiable.

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, had last year said that 90 per cent of money laundering in Nigeria was done through the real estate sector, making it the second most vulnerable after Bureau De Changes (BDCs).

The Senior Managing Director at K2Integity, Mariano Federici, who presented the lead paper, pointed out that there was no effective way of combating corruption without PrivatePublic Partnership (PPP).

PPP, he said, allowed for coordination, information sharing, assessment of risks, and sharing operational intelligence to enable investigations by law enforcement agents.