ECA, Nigeria strengthen capacity to curb illicit financial flows

Mariam Abeeb

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the Ministry of Finance, have organised a capacity-building workshop to strengthen Nigeria’s ability to detect, measure and curb illicit financial flows (IFFs).
The ECA said this in a statement in Abuja.
It said that the five-day workshop, which held in Abuja, was focused on addressing revenue losses arising from trade mis-invoicing.
It said that the workshop brought together officials from key institutions, including the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Revenue Service, National Bureau of Statistics, CBN, EFCC, NFIU, ICPC and NEITI.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, described illicit financial flows as a major threat to Nigeria’s economic sovereignty.
According to Uzoka-Anite, trade mis-invoicing continues to deprive the country of critical development resources.
She said that strengthening the use of customs data would enhance revenue protection, compliance and alignment with global standards for combating illicit financial practices.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mr Raymond Omachi, underscored the importance of accurate data and measurement in tackling IFFs.
According to Omachi, reliable information is key to sound policymaking, transparency and accountability.
The training exposed participants to advanced analytical tools, including the Partner Country Method Plus (PCM+), Price Filter Method Plus (PFM+) and risk-based audit techniques.
The tool is meant to improve the accuracy of estimating trade-based illicit flows using import and export data.
Mr Allan Mukungu, official from ECA, said that the workshop built on a similar ECA-supported training held in May 2025, and addressed identified gaps in capacity and data availability for analysing trade-based IFFs.
Makungu said participants engaged in hands-on exercises using synthetic and real-world datasets, with emphasis on producing actionable monthly reports and policy-relevant recommendations.
He reaffirmed ECA’s commitment to supporting African countries in strengthening domestic resource mobilisation.
He said that the commission was also committed at combating illicit financial flows and safeguarding public revenues in line with Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Mr Idris Abdullahi, Coordinator of Nigeria’s Inter-agency Technical Working Group on IFFs, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to tackling illicit financial flows, particularly the data challenges that constrain effective estimation and policy responses.