Lawmakers from across Africa yesterday gathered in Abuja to chart a path toward halting the continent's annual revenue leakages, estimated at $587 billion by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The issue of capital flight and illicit financial flows topped discussions at the opening session of the 8th Conference of the African Network of Parliamentary Budget Offices, held at the Abuja Continental Hotel.
Speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, who delivered the keynote address, described the gathering as timely in the face of Africa's fiscal and governance challenges. He noted that corruption, illicit trade, profit shifting by multinationals, and inefficiency account for the staggering losses.
"According to the African Development Bank, Africa loses over $587 billion annually to capital flight. Corruption alone drains about $148 billion, while other illicit flows siphon away tens of billions. This is money that should build roads in Lagos, equip hospitals in Nairobi, or improve schools in Accra, but instead it vanishes," Abbas said.
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Citing Nigeria as a cautionary example, Abbas revealed that the country loses an estimated $18 billion yearly to financial crimes in public procurement processes—about 3.8 percent of its GDP. He stressed that oversight, transparency, and strong legislation were vital to plugging such fiscal leakages.
He further announced efforts by the National Assembly to establish the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) as an independent, non-partisan agency, modeled after the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, to strengthen evidence-based budgeting and fiscal governance.
In his remarks, Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, described the conference as a platform for peer learning, capacity building, and the institutionalisation of evidence-based public finance management.
The Abuja meeting drew representatives from 16 countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Liberia, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Cape Verde.
