Nigeria, others lose $50bn yearly to illicit financial flows –Minister Adeosun

Nigeria is among African countries that lose over $50 billion yearly to illicit financial flows through money laundering, tax evasion and other corrupt malpractices, so said Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun.

Adeosun disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a three-day international tax conference and capacity building workshop on the use of beneficial ownership information and recovery of assets in Africa on Wednesday in Abuja.

The conference with the topic, “Nigeria leads the fight against money laundering, bribery, corruption and tax evasion” was jointly organized by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank Group (WG).

It is a multi-stakeholders initiative on Tax and Good Governance designed to provide a platform for exchange of views regarding the importance of beneficial ownership information in detecting, tracking and preventing money laundering, tax evasion, corruption and other types of illicit financial flows.

It also examines processes and procedures for the recovery of assets, its role in curbing illicit financial flows and how existing practices can be made more effective and efficient.

The Minister, who was represented at the event by the Director, Technical Services in the ministry, Mrs Larai Shuaibu, told participants to continue to work with government and other countries across the continent to address this key problems posed by the vice.

“The Nigerian government has put in place a number of processes and has undertaken a lot of activities to trace these assets.

“I believe some of you have been witnessing some of the recent revelations that have been going on and a lot of things that have been coming to light, the Minister stated.

On the question of other issues bordering on tax evasion, money laundry, corruption and other related issues, she said the society had been paying dearly for their consequences.

She said that motions had being set in place and number of steps toward tackling corruption, and called on participants at the progammes to put in their best to bring in ideas that would help to move not only Nigeria ahead, but also other nations in terms of tackling illicit financial flows.

She also urged participants to continue to work in line with the initiative in order to root out every form of corruption in the economic and financial sector.

On his part, Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, decried and described as endemic the rate of corruption, tax evasion, money laundering and illicit financial flows within the African sub-region.

Also speaking, Tunde Fowler, Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, said the potential of Africa in terms of revenue generation in comparison to the US tax rates were much lower.

He added that, “the only way to get Africa out of the present economic situation is to review the conditions and follow strict compliance”.

In his brief remark, Jeffrey Owens, Project Co-Director, Tax and Good Governance Project, urged the participants to discuss freely on the burning topics noting that about 110 people from various agencies in 20 countries are participating in the conference and capacity building workshop.

He hoped that the road map would open another chapter in strengthening the existing relationship between the various agencies.

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