Africa loses over $50b annually to illicit financial flows – Minister

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, says Africa loses over $50 billion yearly to illicit financial flows through money laundering, corruption and tax evasion.
Adeosun said this at the opening ceremony of a capacity building workshop on the use of beneficial ownership information and the recovery of assets in Africa on Wednesday in Abuja.
The Minister was represented by the Director, Technical Services in the ministry, Larai Shuaibu.
Adeosun said: “As a result of illicit financial flows, an estimated 50 billion dollar is lost every year in Africa.
“I therefore, enjoin all participants to continue to work with us and all other countries across the continent to address this key problematic area.
“We hope that this kind of collaboration will continue in earnest and we will use the opportunity of our gathering to further strengthen relations between our various institutions and organisations.
“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.”
Adeosun expressed concern that tax evation, money laundry, corruption and other issues had also continued to be a problem within the society.
She said that motions had being set in place and number of steps toward tackling corruption.
Adeosun urged the participants 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.