By Chizoba Ogbeche
Abuja
Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has described as “endemic” the rate of corruption, tax evasion, money laundering and illicit financial flow within the African sub-region.
Magu expressed this concern yesterday, while making a remark 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, in Abuja.
A press statement by the Commission’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said the conference with the theme: “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).
He said the EFCC boss described the conference as ‘timely and key’ as it supports asset recovery efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
According to him, “the government of Nigeria is taking the bull by the horn by initiating policies, that have enhanced the fight against corruption in Nigeria and tremendous efforts are being made to enhance international cooperation to recover our stolen assets.”
Earlier, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, who was represented by Director, Technical Services, Larai Shuaibu, decried the “alarming rate of corruption in Africa,” adding that an “estimated $50 billion is being lost every year through illicit financial flows.”
She 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.
Also, speaking the Executive Chairman (FIRS), Tunde Fowler, said the potential of Africa in terms of revenue generation in comparison to the US tax rates were much lower.
He said “the only way to get Africa out of the present economic situation is to review the conditions and follow strict compliance.”
