The Economic Financial Crime Commission, Ilorin zone have staged a rally against Illegal acquisition and misappropriation of public funds.
Participants at the rally involved operatives of Police, Custom, Immigration, NSCDC, FRSC, members of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).
Speaking on the event, Ilorin Zonal Head of the commission, Isyaku Sharu, said African continent is losing in excess of $50 billion a year through illicit financial outflows.
He further said that a large portion of these outflows is made up of illegally acquired assets that are located all over the world.
“Assets tracing, freezing, management and eventual repatriation is a long and complex process which eventually takes away the benefits from the crimes, eventually serves as a deterrence to Illicit Financial Flow (IFF).
“Head of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa have persistently sought for the support and collaboration of the global community in repatriating stolen assets back to African Countries.
“The need to strengthen international cooperation among the anti-corruption agencies in Africa for purposes of developing an African common position frame work on assets recovery and return can therefore not be over emphasized.
“The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has particularly made the fight against corruption in Nigeria and recovery of stole assets a key agenda for the administration.
“This has translated to significant recoveries of looted assets that were acquired through mismanagement of public funds.
“Over the past Four years, the Nigeria government has advocated for the return of its stolen assets from foreign jurisdictions with lax AML/CFT regime.
“To bring together all relevant anti-corruption stakeholders (Domestic and International) to reflect on the challenges of assets recovery in Africa and solicit contributions and support towards developing a framework for an African Common Position on Assets Recovery.”
Sharu appealed to all the stakeholders to join hands with the commission to ensure that it recovers common patrimony carted away by the looters, most importantly with the recent whistle blowing policy of the Federal Government.
