Africa Loses $50 billion To Corruption Annually – Magu

Africa Loses $50 billion To Corruption Annually – Magu

The Acting Executive Chairman of the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu on Wednesday, decried the scourge of corruption in Africa, stressing that the continent loses about $ 50billion annually to Illicit Financial Flows.

He made this assertion in Port Harcourt, Rivers State at the 2018 commemoration of the African Anti- Corruption Day. According to Magu, the egregious level of corruption in Africa informed the choice of July 11 every year as the African Anti-corruption Day by the African Union.

Magu said that, though the level of corruption in Africa was appalling, it was more entrenched in Nigeria. ” Our country has one of the most extensive and deeply entrenched culture of corruption on the African continent, if not in the whole world. This is manifested in the increasingly large number of corruption related investigations, litigation, convictions and recoveries made by the EFCC since 2003″. 

In Port Harcourt, the African Anti-corruption Day was marked by a Road Walk originating from the EFCC’s Zonal Office at Old Government Reservation Area, G.R.A. through the busy Nnamidi Azikwe Road, through Lagos Bus Stop, Agrrip Road, Moscow Road and through Forces Avenue and ended at the Police Officers Wives Association, POWA’s ground in the old G.R.A. 

A mammoth crowd comprising Youth Corpps Members, members of Civil Society Organisations, Professional and Trade Union groups marched along the roads singing, drumming and waving banners and placards that carried different messages like: ” Youths Say No To Corruption”, ” We demand a Culture of Integrity and Accountability”,, ” African Women Say No To Corruption”, ” We shall Win The Fight Against Corruption”, among others. 

The EFCC’s Zonal Director, Port Harcourt’s Zonal Office, Mr. Nnaghe Obono Itam, who represented the EFCC’s Acting Executive Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, charged Nigerians to be more involved in the anti-graft war, stressing that public ownership of the war was the only means of moving the nation forward.

” I urge you as members and leaders of trade unions and civil society organisations that cut across diverse professional and interest groups, to facilitate the mass education, mobilization and active participation of Nigerians in the fight against corruption”.