ICPC Reveals How Illicit Transfer Of Funds Are Perpetrated

Chairman of ICPC, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, says that up to 16% of resources generated within the country are illicitly transferred out out of the country through tax evasion, transfer pricing, over-invoicing and other illegal practices.

Professor Owasanoye disclosed this when he played host to the Managing Director of NAN, Mr. Buki Ponle who was at the ICPC headquarters in Abuja on a courtesy call.

The ICPC boss said that such monies could fund the country’s budget if stopped.

He further noted that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) have agreed to partner to prevent Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from the country and promote the National Ethics and Integrity Policy.

He therefore appealed to the MD of NAN to use the NAN platforms and their partnership with other African regional news agencies to help combat IFFs, stating that IFFs is a major problem not only to Nigeria, but to Africa in general, causing the economy to have “financial anemia”.

He added that the National Ethics and Integrity Policy (NEIP), a document produced by the Commission in collaboration with the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OSGF) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA), which got the nod of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), was recently launched by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Chairman maintained that NEIP is a policy that sets a roadmap and framework intended to bring about behavioral change. He therefore called on NAN to join ICPC by employing its platforms to get the message of the core values in the document across to Nigeria.

He decried the lack of common identity in condemning acts of corruption and appealed for unanimity in judging all acts of corruption without regards to political affiliations, tribe or religion.

“When it is wrong, it is wrong, regardless who is doing it”, he stated.

Earlier while giving his remarks, the MD of NAN, commended the Commission for its effort in combating corruption to reduce it to the barest minimum in the country.

The MD noted that ICPC and NAN had similar roles in exposing corruption through investigation to ensure that the country progresses on the path of good governance and development.

He also revealed that the agency has a vibrant multimedia section that included audio, video, and photography which are the various means of reaching out to the publics. He called on ICPC to leverage on some of them in the crusade against corruption. “When you talk to NAN, you talk to the whole world”, he said.