Africa loses US$88.6 billion yearly to illicit financial flows – FG

By Ochiaka Ugwu

The African continent loses an estimated US$88.6 billion annually to illicit financial flows, equivalent to around 3% of Africa ’s GDP, Nigerian Foreign Minister, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar has revealed.

Tuggar who made this known Monday at the 6th Annual General Assembly of the Network of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa (NACIWA) held in Abuja said the menace of corruption was intimately tied to illicit financial flows (IFF), which siphon billions of dollars from Africa every year.

According to Tuggar, “The continent loses an estimated US$88.6 billion annually to illicit financial flows, equivalent to around 3% of Africa ’s GDP. These funds, often hidden in tax havens and opaque financial systems, represent stolen resources that could have been used to build schools, hospitals, roads, and other critical infrastructure.

“Illicit financial flows weaken our economies, deprive governments of essential revenue, and deepen the cycle of poverty and suffering. The link between illicit funds and insecurity is clear – where there is widespread corruption and financial crime, there is instability and conflict.

“Corruption is a cancer that has eaten deeply into the fabric of our societies. In Africa, it has been a persistent obstacle to development, undermining institutions, eroding public trust, and exacerbating poverty and inequality. Nigeria, “unfortunately, is no stranger to this. The cost of corruption is not just financial—it is a matter of life and death, as it fuels radicalisation and disaffection, and in turn, insecurity, terrorism, banditry, and human trafficking.

“At the regional level, West African countries suffer from weak or even failed local governance, particularly in border areas. Criminal gangs engaging in smuggling, gun running, and other illicit activities take advantage of this to provide a semblance of order and relative stability, undermining and sometimes replacing the authority of local governments.

“The emergence of Boko Haram in the North East (which thankfully has now been completely degraded), banditry in the North West of Nigeria and methamphetamine drug cartels in the South East is instructive” he stated.