Joseph Bakare
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has concluded plans to host a two-day national conference on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) in its efforts to safeguard Nigeria’s financial integrity through tackling the menace which adversely impacts revenue collection.
According to a statement by Dare Adekanmbi, Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, Dr Zacch Adedeji, the conference will be held between July 22and 23.
The high-level gathering has the theme “Combating Illicit Financial Flows: Strengthening Nigeria’s Domestic Resource Mobilisation,” and will be held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
The statement said the conference will serve as a platform for reflection on actionable solutions, reinforcing the Federal Government’s commitment to protecting financial integrity and ensuring that domestic revenue is fully harnessed for national development.
The event will bring together experts from various fields, including policymakers, tax administrators, law enforcement agencies, anti-corruption agencies, financial experts, and international stakeholders.
A key member of the United Nations High Level Panel on IFFs, also known as the FACTI Panel, Honourable Irene Ovonji-Odida, will deliver a keynote address, while the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, will chair the conference.
The statement quoted Adedeji as saying that the conference will spotlight the agency’s “intensified efforts in tackling IFFs, including strengthening compliance mechanisms, enhancing beneficial ownership transparency, and leveraging technology to detect and deter tax evasion, trade mispricing, and other illicit outflows.”
“Before now, we have set in motion machinery to tackle IFFs by approving capacity building programmes for staff members of the agency on how to identify and block IFFs, and to increase revenue collection from the multinational corporations.
“In sustaining this, we also approved the establishment of Proceeds of Crime Management and Illicit Financial Flows Coordinating Directorate (POCM-IFF), which is pivotal to addressing the menace. Taxes play a very strategic role in the nation’s economy.
“Before now, the Federal Government of Nigeria had established an Inter-Agency Committee on Stopping IFFs from Nigeria in its efforts to curb the illicit flows. The committee comprises FIRS, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nigeria Customs Service, Central Bank of Nigeria, and Securities and Exchange Commission, among others.
Ovonji-Odida, has expressed the hope that the conference will result in increased understanding of IFFs and commitment to action which is needed to curb it.