Nigeria spends N6tn to fight terrorists, loses N5.4tn to tax evasion – EFCC

Nigeria has spent over N6tn to prosecute its war against terrorism since 2008, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has said.

He also said the country lost N5.4tn to tax evasion by multinationals between 2011 and 2021.

Bawa made the disclosure during a paper presentation, ‘combating of crime, corruption and implication for development and security’, at the 38th Cambridge international symposium on economic crime, organised on Friday by the Centre for International Documentation on Organised and Economic Crime, Jesus College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

A statement by spokesman for the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, said Bawa was represented at the event by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Sambo Mayana.

He also stated that since he took over in March, the agency had recovered over N6tn and over $161m from people who committed economic crimes.

The agency also recovered £13,000, €1,730, 200 Canadian dollars, CFA 373,000, ¥8,430 and 30 real estates, he added.

“We have arrested over 1,500 internet fraudsters, many of whom are being prosecuted,” he said.

He said till date the EFCC since its creation had secured over 3,400 convictions.

Bawa called on leaders across the world to rise to the challenge of fighting corruption to enhance global economic development and security.

According to the EFCC boss, economic and financial crimes including corruption, which manifest in various forms in different nations, are at the core of global development and security challenges.

Citing a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD, he said, “Resources that could support a country’s development are lost through criminal acts like corruption, tax evasion, money laundering, and others.

“The ‘spoiler’ effects on countries’ development processes are diverse, and particularly severe for fragile states: economic crime, including illicit financial flows, diverts much needed resources needed to rebuild countries’ public services, from security and justice to basic social services such as health and education.”

The EFCC chair said the absence of substantial improvement in the living condition of the people in Africa and the rest of the developing countries, in spite of their natural resources, could be blamed on pervasive economic crimes taking place in these countries.

He said, “The incidence of illegal mining, smuggling of goods, tax evasion, illegal oil bunkering, illegal arms deals just to mention but a few does not allow the government to receive the full accruals from the continent’s vast resources that are needed for development.

“The revenue generated is embezzled by government officials and their collaborators in the private sector. This does not allow for economic growth and by extension a hindrance to development.”