Nigeria loses $18bn yearly to illicit financial flows
Orisemeke Benjamin
The Minister of State for Finance Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, says Nigeria loses an estimated $18 billion annually to illicit financial flows.
The Minister who said this at the national conference on illicit financial flow Tuesday in Abuja, added it was largely due to profit shifting and aggressive tax avoidance practices by some Multinational Corporations transacting business in Nigeria.
The conference has as its theme: “Combating Illicit Financial Flows: Strengthening Nigeria’s Domestic Resource Mobilisation”.
Uzoka-Anite noted that IFFs are not just a technical problem; they are a political, developmental, and national security concern.
She said, “IFF is a hydra-headed monster that must be eradicated. IFF takes various forms from terrorist financing to money laundering to corporate tax evasion.
“Huge sums of money are transferred out of the country which strips the country of resources that could be used to finance much-needed public services. This means fewer hospitals and schools, fewer police officers on the street, fewer roads and bridges. It also means fewer jobs.
On his part, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Zacch Adedeji, said that illicit financial flows were a serious drain on the federal government’s ability to carry out developmental projects.
He noted that illicit financial flows through tax evasion, profit shifting, money laundering, and trade misinvoicing do not merely represent financial wrongdoing, they are anti-development.
“Each unaccounted dollar undermines governance, erodes trust, and translates into lost infrastructure, inadequate public services, and deepening inequality. The scale of these flows, especially through aggressive tax avoidance by multinationals exploiting opaque global arrangements, continues to threaten Nigeria’s fiscal stability. Like many other resource-constrained nations, we lose billions annually through these illicit conduits—making this conference not just a policy dialogue, but a national imperative.
To tackle this scourge, the FIRS Chairman said the Service has mapped out deliberate, multidimensional strategies, which is to foster a culture where compliance is driven by trust, not fear.
“Second, we are harnessing technology and intelligence. We have launched an ambitious digital transformation programme, including the establishment of a Tax Intelligence and Automation Department. With real-time analytics, integrated third-party data, and anomaly detection, we are building a tax system that is proactive, smart, and secure. This is not just about digital infrastructure—but digital vigilance.
“Let me be clear: criminal networks adapt quickly. Whether through secrecy jurisdictions, the manipulation of beneficial ownership, or digital innovations, illicit actors continue to outpace traditional enforcement. Our response must therefore be agile, intelligence-led, and globally coordinated.
In his keynote address, Member of Mbeki High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, Hon Irene Ovonji-Odida, insisted that Africa must address the challenge of illicit financial flows if it is to develop using its vast resources.
According to her, strengthening capacity, establishing global coherence on agreements, as well as sticking to the implementation of agreed principles.
“As a net loser in the current global economic system in general, and IFFs in particular, African governments should prioritize and invest in national capacity to end IFFs and build an effective mechanism to coordinate these efforts at the AUC, linked to New York and the capitals. The incipient platform of the AUC/ECA/ CSOs can be enhanced particularly to address strategic/ political coordination and the link to the capitals,” she said.
