President Muhammadu
Buhari Thursday in Abuja called on security agencies in Africa, especially the
intelligence community, to tighten the loop against illicit financial flows,
attributing rising security challenges to sponsorship by those who profit from
illegal financial activities.
In a keynote address at the opening session of the 16th
Conference of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa
(CISSA), President Buhari said development and stability on the African
continent had been undermined by illicit outflows estimated to be about 60
billion US dollars annually.
“Frankly, we may never know the true extent of the damage.
Estimates, however, suggest that African countries lose over 60 billion US
dollars annually due to illicit financial outflows, a staggering amount for a
continent in dire need of development finance.
“Corroborating this figure, a United Nations Report on
‘Illicit Financial Flows and the Problem of Net Resource Transfers from Africa:
1980-2009,’ observed that during the period 1980 to 2009 between $1.2 trillion
and $1.4 trillion was taken out of Africa. This figure is half of the current
Gross Domestic Products of all the countries of Africa,’’ he said.
President Buhari noted that the theme for the conference,
“Illicit Financial Outflows from Africa and its impact on National Security and
Development,’’ was most timely, urging stakeholders from the intelligence
community of the 52 African countries to create a template of risk factors and
actionable strategies and give priority to examining the links between crime
and instability on our continent.
The President also challenged the conference to put measures
in place that will ensure terrorists and criminals were denied access to
financial systems.
“Criminals and their collaborators cheat the system through
various practices, including trade mis-pricing, trade mis-invoicing, tax abuse
and evasion, as well as money laundering. Several unfair commercial agreements
and illegal resource extraction by multinational companies, in cahoots with
their local collaborators, also create routes for illicit financial outflows.
“As partners in the fight against crime and insecurity, you
know that terrorist networks, organized criminal syndicates of drugs, arms and
human traffickers and sundry hostile non-state actors are actively undermining
the security and stability of our countries,’’ he added.
President Buhari said firm and unwavering action will be
required to bring threats under control, noting that “any evasion of rules and
regulations in ways that aid corruption in its various manifestations,
including illicit financial outflows, must be vigorously fought and defeated.’’
According to him, “My role as African Union’s
Anti-Corruption Champion brought me closer to appreciating more the devastating
impact of corruption and illicit financial outflows on our continent.
“I am, therefore, pleased that this conference will boost
the sense of urgency that we collectively have about this devastation and raise
our response capacity at operational levels. In Nigeria, we have risen to the
challenge. The fight against corruption remains at the core of our efforts to
accelerate national development. We have recorded successes even though the
perpetrators are not giving up and are trying to fight back.’’
President Buhari commended CISSA, which was established in
Nigeria in 2004, for its consistency in networking for 15 years, admonishing
that the future goals of curbing illicit flows will not be easy, and would
require robust efforts and resolute commitment by individual services in order
to lay the solid base for the collaborative efforts to address the daunting
challenges.
In his remark, Chairman of African Union Commission, Musa
Faki Mahamat, said terrorism, radicalisation, sponsored by illicit flows,
continuously affect growth on the continent, while ethnicity and religious diversities
had been exploited for political gains.
The Chairman, represented by the African Union Commissioner
for Peace and Security, Amb. Smail Chergui, said the internet had been used as
valid platform for recruitment of people into criminal activities, noting that
terrorists also use sophisticated technology like drones.
Commending President Buhari's integrity and dedication to
fighting corruption, the African Union Chairman said some political transitions
on the continent, with 14 elections holding next year, pose a challenge to
development.
The Director General of the National Intelligence Agency,
Amb. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, said conservative estimates suggest that,
cumulatively, Africa lost well over one trillion US dollars in over five
decades, adding that Africa loses more through illicit financial outflows than
it gets in aid and Foreign Direct Investment.
Quoting World Bank reports, Amb. Abubakar said poverty in
sub-Saharan Africa had been on the rise, noting that illicit financial flows
weaken the capacity of African states to meet governance expectations, stifle
economic growth and infrastructural development and limit investment in
education, health care and agriculture.
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