Yemisi Izuora
Available data has shown that Nigeria accounts for 20 per cent or $10 billion translating to N3.8 trillion, of the estimated $50 billion that Africa loses to Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, revealed this during a virtual meeting to review a report on IFFs in relation to tax.
Mrs Azuka Ogugua, spokesperson for ICPC, said in a statement in Abuja, on Friday, March 5, quoted the ICPC Chairman as saying that, “The African Union Illicit Financial Flow Report estimated that Africa is losing nearly 50 billion dollars through profit shifting by multinational corporations and about 20 per cent of this figure is from Nigeria alone.”
The ICPC boss explained that taxes played a “very strategic role in the nation’s political economy.”
He said the objective of the meeting was to improve the awareness of IFFs; especially in the areas of taxation.
He added that the meeting would give participants the opportunity to openly discuss how to effectively use the instrumentality of taxation to curb IFFs through a risk-based approach.
“Risk-based approach, that is monitoring and audit; due process in tax collection; structured tax amnesty framework skewed in the public interest; data privacy; timely resolution of audits and payment of tax refunds and intelligence sharing among revenue-generating, regulatory and law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Owasanoye also stated that for the contemporary tax man to remain relevant; he must build his capacity in areas of technology management; solution architects; and an astute relationship manager.
The Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr Muhammad Nami, expressed concerns that IFFs posed a serious threat to the Nigerian economy as the act robbed the nation of resources that were needed for development.
Nami declared that tackling IFFs would expand the country’s tax base and also improve revenue generation; which was required for the development.
He advocated for policy reforms that would make it difficult for “capital flights” from occurring; so that the country would be placed on the path of growth.
The meeting identified weak regulatory framework; the opacity of financial system; as well as lack of capacity amongst others as some of the factors that fuelled IFFs and emphasised the need for capacity building of relevant stakeholders as one of the ways to stamp out illicit financial flows.
