Buhari asks Africans abroad to help fight corruption

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on Africans in diaspora to come up with suggestions on how to curb corruption on the continent.

According to a statement on Thursday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, the President made the call on Wednesday in New York while addressing participants at High Level Media Launch on ‘Illicit Financial Flows and the Fight against Corruption: Curbing the Existence of Safe Havens — the Role of Africans in the Fight against Corruption.’

The event was organised by the NEPAD/APRM Nigeria on the sidelines of the ongoing 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The President was also said to have enjoined Africans in diaspora to support measures against “safe havens” for illicit financial outflows from the continent.

Buhari described corruption as a “cancer” which he said required global efforts to contain.

Buhari, while acknowledging that the social and economic costs of corruption and illicit financial flows are massive and have continued to retard the development of Africa, cited a 2015 study by an African Union Panel led by Thabo Mbeki which estimated $50bn illicit financial flows out of the continent every year.

Stating that efforts were being made by African leaders to check the ills and ensure greater transparency and accountability in government business, Buhari said, “One of the measures necessary if we are to make any headway is to bring in laws, regulations and policies that encourage transparent financial transactions as well as implementing measures that would mitigate the incentives that facilitate illegal outflows from the continent.”

He recalled that during the January 2018 AU Summit, he pledged to “organise African youth congresses against corruption, in order to sensitise and engage our youths in the fight against corruption; mobilise African Union member states to implement African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption; and advocate for the strengthening of the criminal justice system across Africa through exchange of information and sharing best practices in the enforcement of anti-corruption laws.”

On the measures taken at the domestic level to curb corruption in Nigeria, Buhari said, a mechanism had been put in place “for budget implementation and monitoring as well as assessing the impact on the lives of the citizens.”

“The above measures have not only assisted in alleviating fears of foreign investors, but have also attracted billions of dollars in portfolio investments since April, 2017.”