3 weeks ago
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By Luminous Jannamike, Abuja
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called connected the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to classify assets theft — including amerciable mining and mineral smuggling — arsenic planetary crimes, informing that specified activities airs superior threats to peace, security, and improvement crossed the subregion.
Declaring unfastened the 7th Annual General Assembly of the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions successful West Africa (NACIWA) astatine the ECOWAS Secretariat successful Abuja, Tinubu, represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, said the increasing theft of mineral resources was fuelling insecurity and undermining economical growth.
“Illicit outflows stay a large challenge. The stealing of mineral resources is connected the emergence crossed the region, contributing to the proliferation of tiny arms, kidnapping, banditry, and different convulsive crimes,” Tinubu said. “These person worsened our information challenges and hindered the region’s improvement prospects.”
He urged ECOWAS to instrumentality the pb successful mobilising planetary enactment to criminalise and combat the commercialized successful stolen minerals.
“The clip has travel for ECOWAS to galvanise the satellite against commercialized successful stolen minerals from West Africa,” the President added.
The assembly, themed “A United ECOWAS Against Corruption: Strengthening Regional Collaboration for Asset Recovery and Exchange of Information,” brought unneurotic heads of anti-corruption agencies, ECOWAS officials, improvement partners, and civilian nine representatives.
Tinubu besides highlighted Nigeria’s efforts successful plus recovery, saying his medication had prioritised transparency and accountability done caller ineligible frameworks.
“Our committedness is to guarantee that recovered stolen assets go enablers of maturation and instruments of societal inclusion,” helium said. “Two flagship programmes of my medication — the Students Loan Scheme and the Consumer Credit Scheme — person commenced operations with N100 cardinal injected from recovered proceeds of transgression by the EFCC.”
In his remarks, Ola Olukoyede, Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and President of NACIWA, reaffirmed the organisation’s committedness to promoting determination practice successful the combat against corruption.
He noted that NACIWA had recorded large milestones, including ECOWAS recognition, perceiver presumption astatine the GlobE Network, and the constitution of a imperishable secretariat successful Nigeria.
“Political transitions, information concerns, and governance challenges crossed subordinate states punctual america that our combat against corruption is inseparable from broader efforts to fortify governmental stableness and societal justice,” Olukoyede said.
Also speaking, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), and Senator Emmanuel Udende, Chairman of the Senate Committee connected Anti-Corruption, commended the EFCC’s enactment and called for deeper collaboration among subordinate states successful tackling corruption and fiscal crimes.
The station Tinubu to ECOWAS: Make assets theft an planetary crime appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.
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