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VOL. 9, NO. 2818 MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2014
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Nigeria, others lose $50b to illegal transfers, says minister
N
IGERIA and other African countries lose about $50 billion yearly to illicit financial flows, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said. The minister spoke in Washington DC, United States at the on-going International Monetary Fund
From Simeon Ebulu, Group Business Editor, Washington DC
(IMF) and the World Bank Group meetings. She said the bulk of the transfers was effected “through tax evasion, transfer pricing; meaning that their profits are exported to jurisdictions where they pay less taxes, so we can’t tax this.” She also accused those involved of engaging in “mixed
pricing over-invoicing and under-invoicing of goods and services that they bring into our countries, as well as corrupting our officials and the likes in the continent.” To address the menace, she said a group of African countries approached the IMF and the World Bank for assistance. She said the African Finance Ministers constituted a panel, chaired by former
EKITI 2014
South African President Thabo Mbeki which looked into the matter. “Its findings revealed that almost $50billion a year is expropriated or disappeared from Africa, illegally.” Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said all the African Finance Ministers requested for help from World Bank and the IMF to interface with the receiving Continued on page 2
•Fayemi defends N25b bond as necessary for growth •Bamidele seeks sanction for political violence AND MORE •Fayose: I won’t take up issues with APC •ON PAGE 10
2015: Five governors in cold war with First Lady Governors grumble as President’s wife back aspirants in Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Bauchi, Kwara, Akwa Ibom, Rivers Aide: it’s not true
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From Yusuf Alli, Abuja
O fewer than five governors are in a “cold war” with First Lady Patience Jonathan over her alleged moves to impose their successors. But the Office of the First Lady denied the claim last night. In the crises are Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Bauchi, and Kwara states, where the First Lady is believed to have anointed some aspirants for the governorship tickets. A highly-placed source with deep insight into the challenges facing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said: “We have a crisis at hand, pitching some governors against the First Lady. It is a cold war which will soon become a ma-
RA GE OF •RA RAGE NATURE: A building smashed by a falling telecom mast during a rainstorm in Onipanu, Ikorodu Road, Lagos... yesterday. SEE ALSO PAGE 12
PHOTO: ADEJO DAVID
Continued on page 2
•IBADAN AGOG FOR OLUBADAN’S CENTENARY P8 •KWARA APC, PDP DIFFER ON BOND P54