Buhari Seeks End To illicit Flowof Funds

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on all
governors of central banks in Africa to bring to an
end all forms of illicit flow of funds out of the
continent.
The President stated this while speaking at the
opening session of the 2016 annual meeting of the
Association of African Central Banks.
The event held at the headquarters of the Central
Bank of Nigeria and had as its theme, ‘Unwinding
unconventional monetary policies: Implications for
monetary policy and financial stability in Africa’.
Buhari, who said the banking system across the
continent had an important role to play in the fight
against corruption, however, regretted that the
African financial system had become a veritable
platform for the transfer of most stolen funds.
He said as the regulator of the financial system,
governors of central banks had another role to play
in reversing the trend of illicit flow of funds out of
Africa.
In doing so, he urged them to put in place
measures to ensure that the proceeds of the illicit
flows were repatriated to their countries of origin.
He, however, expressed optimism that with the
cooperation of all member countries within the
continent, the fight against money laundering and
illicit flow of funds would be won.
He said, “This association, with the cooperation of
all member countries could be an important
machinery for fighting money laundering and illicit
flow of funds. One of the cardinal objectives of the
association should be the prevention of money
laundering, terrorist financing and illicit flow of
funds out the continent.”
The President also said that with the myriad of
economic challenges facing the country, it would
be difficult to achieve the desired growth with
monetary policy instruments alone.
He, however, added that with effective balancing of
monetary and fiscal policy measures, the needed
growth would be achieved.
In seeking solutions to the economic challenges,
the President told the governors of central banks in
the African countries that they should look inwards
and adopt what he described as home-grown
solutions rather than adopting foreign
prescriptions.
He said, “Those of us who rely on only natural
resources, such as Nigeria, Angola, South Africa,
and Mozambique, have been hit the hardest.
“Faced with these challenges, African central banks
have been at their best in keeping African
economies afloat through proactive and effective
combination of conventional and innovative
monetary policies.”
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr.
Godwin Emefiele, in his address of welcome, said
the issue of illicit flow of funds had been one of the
major problems affecting economic growth within
the continent.
He said while the banking sector was best
positioned to mitigate the flow of illicit funds, there
was a need for cooperation among member
countries to check the trend.
The Managing Director, International Monetary
Fund, Christine Lagarde, said with slow growth
being witnessed in major economies, the governors
of African central banks needed to come up with
vibrant initiatives to stimulate growth.
Represented by Atingi Ago, she said the sudden
reversal of capital flows could lead to excess
volatility in assets prices within the African region.