President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that Nigeria lost an estimated 157.5 billion dollars to illicit financial flows between 2003 and 2012. Illicit Financial Flows as “illegal movement of funds from one country to another” with the movement usually from poorer nations to the advanced Western nations.

The United States and United Kingdom have over the years identified as the biggest beneficiaries of stolen money from Nigeria. Switzerland is also reported as another major beneficiary of illicit money from Nigeria.

The president’s spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, said Buhari disclosed this in an address to the High-Level National Side-Event organised by the African Union Development Agency and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD).

The event was also organised in collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday in New York, on the margins of the 74th United Nations General Assembly.

The theme of the event was ; “Promotion of International Cooperation to Combat Illicit Financial Flows and Strengthen Good Practices on Assets Recovery and Return to Foster Sustainable Development.”

While quoting from the 2014 Global Financial Integrity Report, the Nigerian leader noted that such massive loss of assets, resulted in dearth of resources “to fund public services or to alleviate poverty,” in the country.

“This is why, as Africans, we have no choice but to break the back of corruption,” he said.

Acknowledging lack of sufficient capital and corruption as impediments to socio-economic development of the continent, the President emphatically restated his administration’s anti-corruption campaign:

He said: “That is why our government has made it a war we intend to win.

”We will give all it takes to ensure there is no hiding place for purveyors of corrupt practices who are truly enemies of the people.”

President Buhari stressed the need to strengthen good practices on asset recovery and return, saying that, “In the last five years, our government has made significant progress to curb corruption.”

“We have recovered millions of dollars stolen from our country,” he added.

He noted, however, that “there are still a lot of other funds that are stuck in foreign bank accounts due to international laws, different jurisdictions and justice systems that make it difficult for repatriation.”

The president, who described Illicit Financial Flows as “illegal movement of funds from one country to another”, lamented that these flows depleted Africa’s internally generated revenues and foreign exchange earnings.

He added that it also reduced tax revenues, drain natural resources, facilitate corruption and stunt private sector development.

He cited tax avoidance as another form of illicit financial flow, and quoted the Tax Justice Network and the International Monetary Fund to have estimated over 200 billion dollars per year as “being lost by developing countries when multinational enterprises do not pay taxes in the countries where they made the profit.”

According to him, this amount is significantly higher than the annual development aid received by these countries which are estimated to be about 143 billion dollars.

He commended the organisers of the meeting designed to finding “pragmatic ways to promote international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on asset recovery and return, as an arm of sustainable development policies in Africa,”

President Buhari also lauded their “shared commitment to root out corruption from our continent.”

The Nigerian President said: “I am motivated by the belief that, if we join hands, we can bequeath to our children an Africa that is not defined by corruption.”

He also emphasized the imperative of international cooperation towards stemming the incidence of illegal financial flows.

“Any lasting solution to the above challenges will require international cooperation and coordination of African countries and their international counterparts.

“This is one reason why the Nigerian Government supports this initiative of AUDA/NEPAD and remains committed until we ensure that there are no safe-havens for stolen assets from Africa,” he declared.

On his expectations of the outcome of the meeting, the Nigerian leader said:

“I have high expectations for this meeting. At the end of the deliberations, I expect other African leaders, to see the pragmatic ideas on how to strengthen our anti-corruption institutions to reduce or effectively eliminate Illicit Financial Flows.

“We need ideas on how to return the stolen assets to their countries of origin. We also need strategies on how to plug the loopholes that enable companies to avoid paying commensurate taxes in their countries of operations.

”You should deliberate on practical ideas to enhance global acceptable assets tracing and freezing, and boost the recovery governance framework.”

President Buhari, who wished the meeting successful discussions, said he looked forward to reading its resolutions and recommendations.

Adesina said the meeting was attended by the Presidents of Zambia and Ethiopia.(NAN)