Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to classify resource theft, including illegal mining and mineral smuggling, as international crimes, warning that the practices threaten the region’s peace and economic stability.
Tinubu made the call while declaring open the 7th Annual General Assembly of the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA) at the ECOWAS Secretariat in Abuja. The gathering, themed “A United ECOWAS Against Corruption: Strengthening Regional Collaboration for Asset Recovery and Exchange of Information,” drew anti-corruption agency heads, ECOWAS officials, development partners and civil society groups.
Represented by Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, Tinubu said illicit financial flows and resource theft had continued to undermine development despite decades of reform efforts.
“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,” he said. “The time has come for ECOWAS to designate resource theft and illegal mining as international crimes that threaten the stability of the region.”
Tinubu said Nigeria had made progress in asset tracing and recovery, backed by new legal frameworks. He cited the recovery of large sums by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), led by Ola Olukoyede, who also serves as President of NACIWA.
He added that recovered assets were being reinvested into national development schemes. “Our commitment is to ensure that recovered stolen assets become enablers of growth and instruments for social inclusion,” he said, noting that N100 billion in recovered funds had been used to launch the Students Loan and Consumer Credit schemes.
In his remarks, EFCC Chairman Olukoyede said NACIWA had grown into a stronger and more credible regional platform since 2022, improving its visibility and collaboration with ECOWAS, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the African Union’s anti-corruption board.
He also announced efforts to secure NACIWA’s formal recognition as a technical commission under ECOWAS, which would strengthen cross-border coordination on asset recovery and anti-corruption policies.
