West Africa: Ecowas Says Africa Loses $88.6 Billion Yearly to Illicit Financial Flows
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"As we work toward realising the ECOWAS Vision 2050, tackling corruption and illicit financial flows (IFFs) is essential to achieving sustainable development and regional stability."The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has said that illicit financial flows cost Africa a whopping $88.6 billion yearly.Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace, and security, said this during a training on financial investigation for anti-corruption institutions across its member-states. The training wad held in Zuba, Niger State on Monday.Mr Musah, who was represented by Ebenezer Asiedu, the commission's head of the democracy and good governance division, according to TheCable , also linked the fragility of democracy in the region to corruption, which is a key driver of illicit financial flows.He said "democracy in most of our member states faces fragility, particularly due to the menace of corruption."Illicit financial flows refer to the movement of money a...