Lawmakers from across Africa have pledged stronger collaboration to curb annual revenue leakages estimated at $587 billion, an amount revealed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in May 2025.
The issue topped discussions yesterday in Abuja 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, said the gathering came at a crucial time when fiscal and governance challenges continue to limit the continent’s development. He stressed that corruption, illicit financial flows, and inefficiency in public spending were the major contributors to capital flight.
“According to the African Development Bank, Africa loses over $587 billion annually to capital flight. Corruption alone drains about $148 billion, while illicit trade, mispricing, smuggling, and profit shifting siphon away billions more. This is money that should be building roads in Lagos, equipping hospitals in Nairobi, or improving schools in Accra,” Abbas said.
He noted that Nigeria’s experience highlights the scale of the challenge, disclosing that the country loses about $18 billion each year through financial crimes in public procurement. The Speaker stressed that such losses amount to roughly 3.8 percent of Nigeria’s GDP and could easily fund social programmes many times over.
Abbas said the National Assembly is advancing reforms to strengthen legislative oversight and ensure accountability in public finance. He revealed that the parliament is working toward establishing the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) as an independent and non-partisan budget office comparable to the U.S. Congressional Budget Office.
“We envisage NABRO as a catalyst for evidence-based budgeting. Beyond this, we are revising fiscal responsibility and finance laws to enhance budget discipline and transparency, while empowering our Public Accounts Committees to act decisively on audit findings,” he added.
Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, described the conference as a critical platform for peer learning and capacity building among African countries. He urged delegates to use the forum to strengthen evidence-based financial management systems.
Delegates from 16 African nations, including Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Namibia, and Sierra Leone, attended the Abuja meeting, which focused on building stronger institutions to plug financial leakages and improve governance across the continent.
