The Chairman, IoD Centre For Corporate Governance, Alhaji Shuaibu Idris, has said that illicit financial inflows into Africa and Nigeria are worsening foreign exchange challenges and causing economic losses.

Idris said it was important for all stakeholders to jointly address the issue and reduce the impact of the inflows on the economy.

He said this at the IoDCCG stakeholder roundtable on ‘A public/private sector dialogue on strengthening anti-money laundering/countering terrorist financing and curbing illicit financial flows in Nigeria and West Africa’, an initiative of the Center for International Private Enterprise, CIPE, USA and IoD Centre for Corporate Governance in Lagos.

The event, which held physically and virtually, was attended by different stakeholders who brainstormed on the subject matter

He said, “Tackling illicit financial flows is a matter of survival for Africa’s development. Africa not only loses about five per cent of continental Gross Domestic Product annually to illicit capital flights but the proliferation of illicit financial flows enables terrorist activity and insecurity from the Lake Chad region, which includes Nigeria spanning the Sahel region.”

“The losses to economic growth, trade opportunities, and social development is therefore unquantifiable. This constitutes a drain on Africa’s foreign exchange reserves, reduce efforts to enhance domestic resource mobilisation, contract investment inflows and contribute to low social development indicators, including poverty and inequality.”

He said the IoDCCG was a collaborative project of the Institute of Directors Nigeria, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Corporate Affairs Commission.