Nigeria will next week hold a two-day international conference on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and Asset Recovery.

The conference, which will hold both physically and virtually on Tuesday, May 18, and Wednesday, May 19, 2021, is jointly organised by Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Inter-Agency Committee on Stopping IFFs from Nigeria, African Union Advisory Board on Corruption (AUABC), and the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA).

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. (Mrs.) Zainab Ahmed, will give a keynote address at the conference.

The international conference will receive goodwill messages by Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, and African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye.

The highlight of the international conference is the consideration of four broad themes during the plenary sessions – International Asset Recovery: Milestones and Challenges, Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and the Development Dilemma, Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR), and Financing Sustainable Development by Stemming IFFs: The FACTI Panel Report in perspective.

The sessions will include key presentations, discussions, and questions and answers with participants by notable personalities such as Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, Senior Adviser to the President on Justice Sector Reform; Suraj Olanrewaju, Chairman, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA); Thom Townsend, Executive Director, Open Ownership; Hon. Louis Andriamifidy, Chairman of African Union Advisory Board Against Corruption (AU-ABC); Francis Ben Kaifala, Commissioner, Anti-Corruption Commission of the Republic of Sierra Leone, and Prof. Melvin Ayogu, Project IFFs Consultant.

Expected to also make presentations and lead the discussion at the conference are: Hon. Irene Ovonji-Odida, a member of the United Nations High Level Panel on IFF, FACTI Panel; Souad Aden Osman, a member of the FACTI Panel; Don Deya, Chief Executive Officer of Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), and Alvin Mosioma, Executive Director, Tax Justice Network Africa, among others.

The high-level international conference is expected to draw participants from public and private sectors, civil society organisations, academia, and media practitioners from Africa and the Western Countries, among others.

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