N1.23trn illicitly moved out of Nigeria in one year – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Wednesday said more than N1.230 trillion has been siphoned from Nigeria in the last one year through illicit financial flows, raising fresh concerns over the devastating impact on the nation’s economy.

The EFCC made the disclosure in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, during a two-day capacity-building workshop organised by SecFin Africa in partnership with the Africa Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) for civil society organisations (CSOs) and media practitioners.

The workshop, themed “Strengthening CSOs and Media Capacity to Contribute to the Fight Against Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs),” was designed to equip participants with practical knowledge and tools to monitor, investigate and advocate against illicit financial flows in Nigeria and across Africa.

In a remark delivered on behalf of the EFCC by the head of Public Affairs, Theresa Nwosu, the Commission urged CSOs and the media to develop new strategies capable of identifying and blocking illicit financial flows at their sources.

“The time has come for CSOs to join in the advocacy to stop illicit financial flows from Nigeria and the African continent to other parts of the world,” Nwosu said.

She stated the need for stronger collaboration among government institutions, civil society organisations and the media to effectively combat the movement of illicit funds out of the country.

Earlier, the executive director of ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor, described illicit financial flows as one of the greatest threats to Nigeria’s economic development, public services and national security.

He said enormous resources that should be channelled into education, healthcare, infrastructure, environmental protection and job creation were being lost through corruption, money laundering, procurement fraud, tax evasion, trade mis-invoicing, profit shifting and other fraudulent practices.

“The scale of these losses on a yearly basis should trouble everyone of us,” Ugolor said, noting that the consequences were disproportionately borne by ordinary Nigerians.