SGF George Akume. © @officialEFCC
President Bola Tinubu has called on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to designate resource theft particularly illegal mining, and mineral smuggling as international crimes, warning that the menace poses a grave threat to the peace, stability, and economic prosperity of the subregion
The President made the call on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 while declaring open the 7th Annual General Assembly of the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa, NACIWA, held at the ECOWAS Secretariat, Asokoro, Abuja.
The meeting, themed “A United ECOWAS Against Corruption: Strengthening Regional Collaboration for Asset Recovery and Exchange of Information,” brought together heads of anti-corruption agencies, ECOWAS officials, development partners, and civil society representatives.
The President , who spoke through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, lamented that despite decades of reforms, illicit financial flows and resource theft continue to undermine regional development. “Even now, illicit outflows remain an odious miasma. Stealing of mineral resources is on the rise in the region, fueling the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and other violent crimes such as kidnapping and banditry. These have exacerbated our security challenges and worsened the development outlook of the region,” he said.
Calling for urgent collective action, the President stressed that resource theft should be classified as an international crime. “The time has come for ECOWAS to designate resource theft, illegal mining and stealing of minerals as an international crime that threatens the stability of the region, and galvanize the world against trade in stolen minerals from West Africa,” he said.
Tinubu also underscored the importance of regional cooperation in tackling financial crimes and illicit flows. “No country can single-handedly win the battle against illicit flows. It requires collaboration, and NACIWA offers ECOWAS a multi-state and multi-stakeholder platform to harness regional efforts against corruption and its manifestations,” he stated.
Highlighting Nigeria’s strides in anti-corruption, Tinubu noted that under his administration, the country has prioritized asset tracing and recovery, backed by a new legal framework for asset management. “The vision has translated into the recovery of humongous sums by the anti-corruption agencies. One of the agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, under the leadership of Ola Olukoyede, who incidentally is the current President of NACIWA, has been prolific in recovering stolen assets,” he said.
He further explained that his administration ensures that recovered assets are channeled into productive use. “Our commitment is to ensure that recovered stolen assets become enablers of growth and instruments for social inclusion. Two legacy programmes of my administration — the Students Loan Scheme and the Consumer Credit Scheme — commenced operation with the injection of N100 billion in recovered proceeds of crime by the EFCC,” he stated.
Earlier in his welcome address, Executive Chairman of the EFCC and President of NACIWA, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, expressed gratitude to delegates and reaffirmed NACIWA’s role as a unifying platform for regional anti-corruption collaboration. He highlighted the network’s achievements since assuming office in 2022, noting that despite challenges, the current executive committee has repositioned NACIWA into a “more dynamic and credible platform for regional collaboration.”
