Reps worry over Nigeria’s loss of $8.8tn to capital flight

The House of Representatives has expressed worry that Nigeria is losing huge amount of money to capital flight, especially medical tourism.

Indeed, the House said it was aware of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s bulletin in 2015, which showed that the net flow of capital flights from Nigeria from 1986 to 2015 was quite worrisome, with Nigeria losing over $8.8tn.

It therefore urged the Federal Government to develop an effective mechanism and strategy to prevent the persistent occurrence of capital flight in Nigeria

It also advised the Federal Government to partner private institutions to build world-class medical facilities in major cities in Nigeria or upgrade and equip the existing ones with adequate facilities.

It said the agreement should be based on a build, operate and transfer policy by private investors in a way that would allow the investors to manage same for an agreed period.

The Committee on Legislative Compliance was mandated to ensure implementation.

This followed a motion on the Urgent Need to Address the Menace of Capital Flight in Nigeria by Hon. Afolabi Rasheed Olalekan on Tuesday.

The House noted that capital flight had been one of the unresolved and persistent macroeconomic problems plaguing the nation for over four decades.

The House also noted that ironically, Nigeria is ranked among the highest producers of crude oil in the world and earns a huge amount of foreign exchange from its exports but still falls short of capital to develop, maintain and upgrade her infrastructure due to the magnitude of capital flight from the country when compared to accumulated domestic investments.

The House further noted that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development estimated that about $88.6 billion per year leaves the African continent through money laundering, tax evasion, diverted revenues, offshore investments and other forms of capital flights, with Nigeria accounting for an estimated 46 per cent of the total capital flight or $40.7 billion per year.

It worried at the alarming rate of foreign medical services being sought by Nigerians, both private individuals and government officials, amounting to more than $6.5 billion based on the statistics released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2015, while expenses on foreign education amounted to more than $3 billion based on estimates released by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) in its 2014 annual report.