The minister of state for finance, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, said Nigeria loses about $18 billion annually to illicit financial flows.
She disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the national conference on illicit financial flows held under the theme ‘Combating Illicit financial flows: Strengthening Nigeria’s domestic resource mobilisation.’
The minister said the losses accrue largely from profit shifting and aggressive tax avoidance practices by some multinational corporations transacting business in the country.
“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 streets, fewer roads and bridges. It also means fewer jobs,” she said.
For his part, the chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Zacch Adedeji, said illicit financial flow is a serious drain on the federal government’s revenue.
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,” he said.
To tackle the scourge, Adedeji said the Service had mapped out deliberate and multidimensional strategies aimed at fostering a culture where compliance is driven by trust, not fear.
He also said the agency had deployed technology and intelligence to curb the menace.
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,” he added.
In her keynote address, a member of the Mbeki High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, Ms Irene Ovonji-Odida, said Africa must address the challenge of illicit financial flows if it is to develop, using its vast resources.
She called for 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 prioritise and invest in national capacity to end IFFs and build an effective mechanism to coordinate these efforts at the African Union Commission (AUC), linked to New York and the capitals.
The incipient platform of the AUC/ECA/CSOs (African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can be enhanced, particularly to address strategic/political coordination and the link to the capitals,” she added.
