Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said<\/p>\n
economic crime can better be tackled if countries partner each other and
\nshare strategic information to stop the network of those who commit such
\ncrimes.<\/p>\n
Amaechi made the statement Monday while delivering a keynote speech at the
\nopening of the 34th Cambridge University prestigious International
\nSymposium on Economic Crime, at Jesus College, University of Cambridge,
\nUnited Kingdom. The Rt. Hon. Jeremy Wright, the Attorney-General of
\nEngland and Wales and Advocate General of Northern Ireland also spoke on
\nthe first day of the week-long symposium.<\/p>\n
In his address titled: “Beyond Blame Game: The Imperative of Tackling
\nEconomic Crime Together” Amaechi said economic crime is often committed in
\nan organised manner involving several people, sometimes across countries
\nthrough multiple jurisdictions. Although such crimes may originate from
\none country, it often involves the participation of clandestine, criminal
\nnetworks operating in different countries, playing one role or the other
\nand benefiting from such illicit proceeds.<\/p>\n
“At the 7th African Union and Economic Commission for Africa conference
\nthat held in Abuja back in 2014, the former President of South Africa,
\nThabo Mbeki stated that Africa loses between $50 billion to $60 billion
\nannually as a result of Illicit Financial Flows (IFF). These are said to
\noccur through forms of tax avoidance including transfer pricing or
\nmispricing- depending on which side you are- through which multinationals
\nminimize their tax obligations by shifting their profits from high tax to
\nlow tax jurisdiction thereby short-changing some of their host countries
\nespecially in the developing world and draining them of legitimate
\nrevenue, impeding their projects and denying their population access to
\nbasic services,” Amaechi noted.<\/p>\n
He further explained that because economic crimes are committed through
\nnetworks, sometimes spread over countries, It is therefore a global
\nproblem that can only be effectively tackled through global collaboration
\nand partnership.<\/p>\n
“For this to happen, the public and private sectors especially the banks,
\nmust come into collaboration beyond high sounding rhetoric and public
\nrelations. Institutions from both developed and developing countries must
\nlearn to share information and act swiftly to erode the efficacy of these
\nnetworks to successfully use any jurisdiction either as transit routes or
\nsafe havens for proceeds of economic crime. Strong, effective, regulatory
\nand enforcement capabilities must be encouraged both domestically and
\ninternationally through technical cooperation. Partnerships must be
\nencouraged to provide platforms to share best practices and intelligence
\nand strengthen legislations between jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
He also noted that leaders across countries and institutions must take
\nresponsibility when economic crime or corruption happens. “That is what it
\nmeans to be held accountable. In doing so, leadership is expected to do
\nthree simple things; perhaps four. They are – upholding the primacy of
\nleadership and political will, insisting on the force of example,
\nenforcing the urgency of incentives and the necessity of sanctions and
\nfinally by leveraging on the power of partnership.<\/p>\n
“As someone who has been in active politics for more than thirty years, I
\nhave learnt that many well intended reforms are possible only if the
\nleader can offer the requisite leadership and muster the right political
\nwill. In my country, since our President, Muhammadu Buhari was elected, he
\ndid not leave anyone in doubt that the fight against corruption will not
\nonly be taken seriously but will form a cardinal plank of his policy
\ndirection. So far, he has made several pronouncements that set the tone of
\nhis commitment to strengthening anti-corruption agencies to go after
\nanyone who has questions to answer. The President\u2019s resolve was enough to
\nsignal all of us, members of his cabinet and the citizenry, that an end
\nhas come for the old ways of doing things. Currently, many people who have
\nbeen indicted in one form of corrupt practice or another are being
\nprosecuted in our courts. That, I believe is the way to show leadership
\nand take responsibility.<\/p>\n
“Another important factor is what I refer to as the force of example.
\nThere is very little any leader can achieve if he talks the right
\npolitical talk without offering personal examples. In these days of
\ninternet and social media revolution, citizens often spend time to
\nscrutinize the reputation and activities of any leader to find out if they
\nare consistent with what he or she stands for in the media. Essentially
\nleaders must practice what they preach if they expect to be taken
\nseriously both by those within their organisations, state or country or
\noutside,” he stated.<\/p>\n
Amaechi again gave the example of President Mohammadu Buhari and his
\ncommitment to lead the fight against corrupt practices through personal
\nexample.<\/p>\n
“Through the implementation of calculated policies to block conduits of
\nwaste, the cost of running the central government in Nigeria has been
\nreduced by more than twenty-five percent in the last eighteen months. In
\nthe last one year about a cumulative amount of 3.4 trillion naira have
\nbeen recovered in cash and assets while about 115-billion-naira worth of
\ncash and assets have been located in the United States, United Arab
\nEmirates and even here in the United Kingdom. Our President has stopped
\nat nothing to demonstrate that whosoever is caught in corruption related
\ncrimes will not be spared. In his days as military President, and through
\nother positions he has held in public life, he has upheld a life of
\nintegrity. He is a typical example of how a leader can inspire committed
\nfollowership through the force of example.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amaechi concluded that economic crime has become a strong force that can
\nonly be successfully confronted if all hands are on deck.<\/p>\n
“As an interconnected and rapidly globalising world, it\u2019s vital we work
\ntogether, in partnership, to collectively fight economic crime. This is a
\ncommon enemy and a very smart one for that matter. It seeks to beat every
\nbarrier that we mount against it. It is my humble submission that we must
\nhold hands together as never before to confront the spread of economic
\ncrimes squarely and successfully.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said economic crime can better be tackled if countries partner each other and share strategic information to stop the network of those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n