The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Nigeria, Olanipekun Olukoyede, has recommended the adoption of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence (AI) as means to counter illicit financial flows (IFFs) within Africa. Olukoyede emphasized the loss of $88.6 billion a year by African nations due to IFFs, during the Pan-African Conference on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation.
The conference, a summit run by the African Union, unites a variety of stakeholders to examine IFFs and taxation, allowing the exchange of valuable insights and the creation of strategies to combat IFFs. Olukoyede suggested that the establishment of solid legal frameworks, coupled with national, regional and international scale capacity building, were paramount. He additionally proposed the use of high-level technologies such as data analytics, blockchain, and AI to boost the efforts of asset tracking and recovery.
If recovered, Olukoyede stated that these funds could greatly improve infrastructure, healthcare, and education throughout Africa. He pointed to successful recoveries like the retrieval of $311 million from the U.S. in 2020, tied to former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, as evidence of effective international cooperation.
Olukoyede underlined the necessity for international coercion to secure cooperation from tax havens and low-tax jurisdictions for effective anti-corruption measures. Meanwhile, Nigeria has lately started to integrate blockchain technology and AI into its systems.
In May, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) reconfigured the National Blockchain Policy Steering Committee (NBPSC) to reconsider the regulations governing the application of Nigeria’s National Blockchain Policy. Furthermore, NITDA encouraged the integration of AI into the country’s national security framework to improve results. Recognizing the benefits, NITDA is spearheading AI growth in Nigeria with initiatives such as the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and developing a National Artificial Intelligence Policy.