Economy
Buhari Reaffirms Resolve to Tackle Illicit Financial Flows
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
“For my administration, fighting corruption and Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) in Nigeria is non-negotiable,” President Muhammadu Buhari has assured former President of South Africa and Chair of the AU/ECA High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, Mr Thabo Mbeki.
Mr Mbeki was in Abuja to meet Mr Buhari, who is also the current Champion of AU Anti-Corruption Campaign, to follow up on the efforts of AU Member States to implement the recommendations of the High-Level Panel Report (endorsed by the AU in 2015) and ultimately tackle IFFs nationally.
The visit also saw the Chair call upon the President in his capacity as the AU Anti-Corruption Champion to lead the efforts to engage action from other AU Member States towards tackling IFFs at the national, regional and continental level.
Prior to the Presidential visit, Mr Mbeki met with representatives of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government of Nigeria which deal with Financial and legislative matters to gain an understanding of the country’s ongoing efforts to tackle Illicit Financial Flows.
In his remarks to the MDAs, the Mbeki recalled the 2015 Special Declaration to address IFFs, which was a realization by African leaders of the excessive losses due to illicit outflows. “The view was that the continent was losing resources which should have been available for its development to these illicit outflows,” he said. He emphasized the level of losses from IFFs, which at the time of the Panel’s Report was 50bn USD annually, but has now grown to about 80bn annually. He also indicated on a more positive note that, “Africa has led this agenda and brought it to global attention. This was evident when the African Heads of States asked our Panel to help address this issue”.
Mr Mbeki highlighted some of the recommended actions to address these IFFs saying that Nigeria and in turn, all other AU member states need legislation to deal with money laundering, financial intelligence and tax evasion. He underlined that this issue also requires action from global partners stressing, “since these funds leave the continent to destination countries, this problem cannot be solved by Africa alone. He acknowledged the capacity constraints nationally and continentally, saying, “As Africans, we must say that having identified the nature and size of the problem, we must work to address the issue. We need to act on this matter in any capacity necessary.”
The Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Abdalla Hamdok for his part said that as a result of the Chair’s leadership, Africa was able to put the challenge of illicit finance on the global map. He referred to the Panel’s work and Report, whose impact has led to several important continental and global frameworks, including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, as well as its inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals.
As the Chair is required to report back to the AU Assembly of Heads of States and Government annually on the progress of implementing the recommendations of his Panel’s Report, Mr Hamdok said, “Several actions are being carried out, including this visit to Nigeria to determine the state of reaction to this issue, as well as “a technical project which is being worked on by the ECA to help capacitate AU member states against IFFs. Mr. Hamdok also stressed that all these efforts and those not yet mentioned are still, however, based on political will, which is crucial to reducing IFFs from the continent.
Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Abubakar Malami, for his part elaborated on Nigeria’s efforts to implement strategies to curb corruption and reduce IFFs. “We have taken major multi-dimensional policy decisions relating to institutions, legislations…and above all, recognizing the need for international collaboration as it relates to the fight against corruption and the minimization of illicit financial flows”. He noted that through legislative processes, Nigeria has “succeeded in establishing and capacitating institutions which are mandated with the statutory role of working to enforce financial regulations as well as tackle various misconducts including corruption and IFFs.”
He also detailed the efforts of the country in fighting corruption and IFFs through the deployment of relevant technology and international collaboration. Additionally, he highlighted the need for collaboration to make it more difficult for IFF perpetrators to move freely, invest in businesses and benefit from the proceeds of crime. He stressed that “we must work to repatriate these funds from the external perpetrators while working to detain them.
Permanent Secretary of Finance, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse delivered remarks on behalf of the Minister of Finance for Nigeria. In the speech, he commended the Chair and Panel for fighting this plague saying that IFFs have robbed Africa of the required wealth to help build schools, hospitals, roads and other necessary infrastructure. He added that the quest for Africa’s financial development will be accelerated if the efforts to recover these lost funds are successful and the continent’s development will no doubt receive a necessitated boost. In this regard, he spoke about the work of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which is being led by the Minister of Finance. This effort has helped the country recover lost assets from taxes because of the increased transparency.
The two-day event culminated with a technical workshop with Thabo Mbeki. Raymond Baker, President, Global Financial Integrity and Member of the High-Level Panel as well as the Secretariat of the Panel meet with the representatives of the financial agencies and departments. Part of the objectives of the workshop was to discuss the ECA’s proposed Development Assistance Project which aims to support Nigeria and other member states in the fight against IFFs. Following this visit, the Secretariat is expected to further engage the government of Nigeria and foster collaboration to build its capacity to stem IFFs from the country.
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.
This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.
Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.
There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.
On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.
A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.
This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.
In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.
On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.
At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira extended its appreciation against the US Dollar by 0.06 per cent or N89 Kobo on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 17, trading at N1,547.58/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,548.47/$1.
Market analysts expect that the Naira will appreciate in the first quarter of the year, backed by continued policy support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Vestance Nigeria, an agribusiness advisory firm, projects that the exchange rate will trade between N1,650/$1 and N1,750/$1 this year in its Resilience and Recovery for Agribusiness in 2025 outlook report.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue implementing reforms to enhance exchange rate market transparency while maintaining higher interest rates to curb inflationary pressures and attract foreign portfolio management,” it said.
Also, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N20.84 to wrap the session at N1,883.59/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,904.43/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency gained N10.45 to settle at N1,590.34/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,600.79/€1.
In the parallel market, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by N5 yesterday to sell for N1,675/$1 compared with the N1,675/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
As for the cryptocurrency market, there was profit-taking amid excitement for a new era of crypto-friendly US government mounts ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
Crypto investors expect a change from Mr Trump who promised on the campaign trail to position the US as a leader in the crypto space including creating a national stockpile of Bitcoin, in stark contrast to past years’ regulatory crackdowns and enforcements.
Litecoin (LTC) fell by 9.9 per cent to trade at $124.56, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 6.2 per cent to $3.10, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 4.9 per cent to $1.06, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.1 per cent to finish at $3,270.61, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 2.3 per cent to $698.57 and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to $0.3927.
However, Solana (SOL) rose by 8.8 per cent to end at $235.12, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $102,494.03, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
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