Nigeria Accounts For $10bn Illicit Financial Flows From Africa - ICPC Says

 

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has said that Nigeria accounts for about $10 billion that Africa loses to illicit financial flows (IFFs). This account for 20 per cent of the estimated $50 billion loss the continent suffers. Chairman of the ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, made the disclosure in his welcome remarks at a physical and virtual zoom meeting, organised to review the report on IFFs in relation to tax. Owasanoye’s revelation was contained in a statement by the commission’s spokesperson, Mrs. Azuka Ogugua.

“The African Union Illicit Financial Flow Report predicted that Africa is losing almost $50 billion through income shifting by means of multinational organizations and approximately 20 percentage of this figure is from Nigeria by myself”, the ICPC boss became quoted as saying. This became as he explained that taxes had been “very strategic position in the kingdom’s political economy”. Accordingly, the silk underscored the significance of the meeting, whilst he noted that equal would have the funds for individuals the possibility to overtly brainstorm on a way to efficiently use the instrumentality of taxation to scale down IFFs via “threat-based totally approach to tracking and audit; due process in tax series; structured tax amnesty framework mainly that that is skewed in public interest; information privateness; timely resolution of audits and charge of tax refunds; and intelligence sharing amongst sales producing; regulatory; and law enforcement agencies.”

The ICPC chairman was further quoted to have said that for the modern-day tax collector to stay applicable, they should construct their ability in areas of generation control, solution architects and an astute relationship supervisor. He mentioned that the goal of the meeting was to enhance on the attention on IFFs, specifically within the areas of taxation. Meanwhile, the Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Muhammad Nani, expressed concerns that IFFs posed a critical threat to the Nigerian economy. According to Nani, the act robs the kingdom of sources that were wished for boom and improvement. He declared that tackling IFFs would enlarge the u . S .’s tax base of the Nigerian country and improve revenue technology which was required for improvement.

Consequently, Nani made a case for coverage reforms that might make it tough for “capital flights” from occurring so that the u . S . Would be located on the direction of growth. Other discussants at the event, who spoke with one accord, identified vulnerable regulatory framework, opacity of monetary device and shortage of potential amongst others as a number of the factors that fuel IFFs. The discussants had been unanimous in emphasising the want for potential constructing of relevant stakeholders as one of the ways to stamp out illicit flows.