Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, will speak at the High-Level Side Event of the AUDA-NEPAD today, Wednesday, September 25, 2019, in New York, United States, as part of efforts to champion Africa’s campaign to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on asset recovery and return.

The High-Level Side Event which will be on the margins of the 74th United Nations General Assembly, will also have delegates from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Norway, South Africa and Zambia, and is in collaboration with the European Union Delegation, the African Union Permanent Observer Mission, the United Nations Conference Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Civil Society Financing for Development (CSOFID) Group and the African Development and Action Forum.

Magu, who is among eminent anti-corruption crusaders selected from across the African continent, will be speaking on the theme: ‘Promotion of International Cooperation to Combat Illicit Financial Flows and Strengthen Good Practices on Asset Recovery and Return to Foster Sustainable Development.’

“Whatever the source of these illicit financial flows are, the effects are far reaching and have been adjudged as a leading cause of poor socioeconomic development,” he said, noting that the clamour to firmly check illicit financial flows could not have come at a better time, and there has now become an urgent need for cooperation among foreign governments.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria, Princess Gloria Akobundu, the need to check illicit financial flows out of Africa has become imperative, as “funds that should have aided the development is illegally siphoned out of the country.

“This has made the need to bring the issue to the front-burner, essential at a global forum as the United Nations General Assembly,” she said.

The side-event, she added, will “serve as precursor to the high-level dialogue on financing for development.”

The event will have in attendance President Muhammadu Buhari, the African Union Anti-Corruption Champion; Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the General Assembly of the United Nations; President Sahlework Zewede of Ethiopia; Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson, African Union Commission; Neven Mimica, European Union Commissioner for Development, along with other eminent anti-corruption crusaders.