The report, entitled, ‘Averting Illicit Financial Flows in Nigeria’s Extractive Industry’ and released in Abuja, said that 92.9 percent of the total amount of illicit financial flows in Nigeria annually were from businesses in the oil and gas sector.
It noted that while it is generally difficult to measure IFFs as a result of their illegality, types of activities and data challenges, it is, however, discovered that the country’s oil sector contributed the most to the illegality on a yearly basis.
Local media reports said that out of the 92.9 percent contribution of the sector to IFFs in Nigeria, illegal oil bunkering accounted for about 35 percent, while commercial transactions by multinationals that dominate the sector contributed more than 60 percent.
The reports added that the firms were found to be evading tax and launder funds, and that the country’s oil sector had remained vulnerable to IFFs due to Nigeria’s economic dependence on the sector.
The report also said that the oil industry was highly influenced and controlled by the political class and had remained technically and structurally complex.