President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday linked the increasing globalization and advent of new technologies to the worsening security situations across the world.
He made the remark while making opening remarks at the Munich Security Conference in Abuja.
Buhari said; “With the advent of globalization and new technologies bringing nations and peoples closer, and creating new opportunities of interaction and trade, comes significant issues of security.
“We can see through the increasing number of evil actors, especially perpetrators of organized crime who profit from the illicit flows of assets out of the African continent.”
He also pointed out that the challenges posed by illicit outflows of resources have increased in recent years with attendant sophistication due to the fast pace of technological advancement.
“Illicit flows have further fueled terrorism and the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons.” he added
He said that the West African sub-region is not only a victim of Illicit financial flows but also of human trafficking, arms and drugs trade with dire consequences on the wellbeing of its people and on national security.
He said “It is common knowledge that illicit flows compound the problems of corruption and impede efforts towards sustainable economic growth.
“This is why, I will continue to take decisive action to fight corruption and confront insecurity especially in the border areas.
“In addition, relevant agencies have also been mandated to work towards strengthening regional and international partnership to address these threats,” he said.
To effectively combat illicit flows, Buhari said that it is necessary that the nations collectively bring adequate resources and reinforce capabilities to address transnational organized crime since no government can do it alone.
He went on; “I am aware that one of the key facilitators of transnational organized crime including illicit flows is the porous nature of our borders.
“This is a major challenge to our region. In this context, we will continue to count on the support of our international partners for new technologies to effectively police our borders.
“Here in the West African sub-region we have taken important steps to address some of our security concerns through improved political governance as contained in the relevant regional mechanisms of ECOWAS, which I currently have the privilege of chairing.” he stated
The launching of the Munich report on the eve of the ECOWAS Summit, he said, offers a unique opportunity to bring together decision-makers and experts to discuss new cooperation approaches to counter the challenges of illicit flows and other transnational crimes.
