Speaker Abbas rallies African lawmakers to tackle fiscal leakages

…endorses Tinubu’s borrowing strategy

By Gift ChapiOdekina, Abuja

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Abbas Tajudeen, has urged African parliaments to fortify fiscal oversight, plug fiscal leakages, and follow modern exertion successful fund scrutiny, informing that corruption and illicit fiscal flows are draining billions of dollars needed for improvement crossed the continent.

Delivering the keynote code astatine the opening of the 8th African Network of Parliamentary Budget Offices (AN-PBO) Conference successful Abuja connected Monday, Abbas said Africa, with its 1.4 cardinal people, stands astatine a “crucial crossroads” and indispensable align authorities budgets with the continent’s aspirations nether the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

He expressed interest that Africa loses much than $587 cardinal annually to superior formation and illicit fiscal flows, portion Nigeria unsocial loses astir $18 cardinal each twelvemonth to procurement fraud—roughly 3.8 per cent of its GDP.

“These are funds that should beryllium gathering roads successful Lagos, equipping hospitals successful Nairobi, oregon improving schools successful Accra. Instead, they vanish,” Abbas lamented.

The Speaker besides defended Nigeria’s borrowing strategy, clarifying that the House of Representatives afloat supports President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s attack erstwhile applied responsibly.

He dismissed media reports suggesting different arsenic “inaccurate and misleading,” stressing that strategical borrowing remains indispensable to concern infrastructure, stimulate growth, and support the vulnerable.

“Under President Tinubu’s leadership, borrowed funds are being channelled towards transformative projects successful power, transport, and agriculture—not for consumption. The House stands firmly down this vision,” Abbas said.

He outlined legislative reforms designed to entrench transparency, including the constitution of the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO), which volition supply lawmakers with autarkic fund investigation and economical forecasts.

“NABRO volition rival, and possibly exceed, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office successful credibility and capacity,” helium assured, noting that the measure has passed the House and is awaiting Senate concurrence.

Further reforms, according to Abbas, see strengthening fiscal work laws, empowering Public Accounts Committees, reforming procurement processes, and grooming lawmakers successful economical analysis.

He urged African parliaments to deploy artificial intelligence, blockchain, and integer platforms successful fund scrutiny, citing examples from Estonia and South Korea wherever exertion has curbed corruption and boosted accountability.

“In Nigeria’s National Assembly today, it is inactive communal for MDAs to dump mountains of documents to confuse committees. AI tin scan thousands of pages successful minutes, flagging anomalies that would different spell unnoticed,” helium said.

Abbas stressed the value of collaboration among African parliaments done the AN-PBO, calling for information sharing, harmonised gross forecasting tools, and associated efforts against taxation evasion and illicit fiscal flows.

“No state tin execute fiscal transparency successful isolation. Stronger oversight successful 1 African federation benefits the full continent,” helium noted.

Declaring the league open, Abbas accepted his relation arsenic Patron of the AN-PBO Network and pledged Nigeria’s committedness to determination practice connected parliamentary fiscal reforms.

“Our pursuit of accountability and improvement volition beryllium challenging but imaginable done determined enactment and corporate effort,” helium concluded.

The station Speaker Abbas rallies African lawmakers to tackle fiscal leakages appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.