1 day Ago By Ebere Melum-Nwogbo
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has raised the alarm over Africa’s staggering loss of $88.6 billion each year due to corruption and illicit financial flows (IFFs), calling the issue one of the most pressing threats to the continent’s development. Speaking at a recent certification training on financial investigation for West Africa’s anti-corruption institutions, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace, and security, stated that these losses account for 3.
7% of Africa’s GDP and continue to undermine democratic governance and stability across the region. Despite “considerable progress in the democratic consolidation in the region ..
. democracy in most of our member state faces fragility, particularly due to the menace of corruption,” Musah noted. He stressed that the rise of cryptocurrencies and other online financial tools is creating new vulnerabilities, making it vital for anti-corruption agencies to upgrade their skills and strategies.
The training, organized in partnership with Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA), aimed to bolster regional capacity to combat increasingly tech-enabled and transnational financial crimes. echoed the call for unity, stating that “to effectively confront these challenges, we must work together, sharing intelligence, harmonizing our methods, and speaking in one voice as a region committed to integrity and justice.” As ECOWAS pushes toward its Vision 2050 goals, leaders say tackling corruption is essential to unlocking economic growth and restoring trust in governance across West Africa.
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