As African countries continue to grapple with the depth of illicit financial flows (IFFs), and with an estimated annual loss of $88 billion, stakeholders have gathered in Dakar, Senegal to address this concern.
A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, the “Economic Development in Africa Report 2020,” noted that the amount was enough to finance almost half the annual financing gap of $200bn that the continent faces to achieve the SDGs.
It is feared that if the scourge was not tackled, it could derail the continent’s bid to achieve sustainable development goals, SDGs, by the deadline of 2030.
To this end, TrustAfrica is seeking to “Strengthening the capacity of African media in the fight against Illicit Financial Flows”
The Executive Director, TrustAfrica, Dr. Ebrima Sall, in a letter said the workshop was mainly for media practitioners and bloggers drawn primarily from countries in West Africa including Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal.
Sall quoting the UNCTAD’s report said that the large financing gap for the SDGs cannot be closed solely through government revenues.
He noted, however, that tackling IFFs would open the door to releasing much needed investments in education, health and productive sectors.
According to Sall, “the debate on IFFs from Africa remains very relevant and has to be kept in the public place.
“It is thus important that those on the forefront of informing the public have conceptual understanding of IFFs and play an important role to remain active in reporting, informing and discussing this pertinent issue.”
The TrustAfrica executive director explained that the core objective of the workshop which commenced Thursday June 23, 2022 to Friday June 24, was to “unpack the concept of IFFs and appraise the status of IFFs in Africa identifying; identify priority issues for policy change and advocacy,” as well as “assessing the capacity gaps in media and IFFs coverage.”
The workshop is also expected to “enhance the capacity of media practitioners in understanding the issues of IFFs and reporting on it; create a circle/network of media practitioners specializing on IFFs who could regularly report, inform and editorialise on IFFs and contribute to spurring African governments to increase their efforts to stop IFFs.”
