The maiden inter-universities speech contest on Impact of Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) on Economics of West Africa, organized by the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), was held last week in Accra.
Five participants took part in the competition – drawn from the University of Ghana; University of Ibadan, Nigeria; University of Liberia; University of Sierra Leone and the University of Gambia.
There were other supporting tertiary institutions from Ghana, including Accra Polytechnic, Pentecost University College, with the entire student population at the contest numbering about 500.
The University of Ibadan, Nigeria, emerged winner of the day, followed by Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana in that order.
A keynote address by Mr. Timothy Melaye, delivered on behalf of the Director General of GIABA, Dr. Abdullahi Shehu, stated that Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF), had the tendency of disorganizing the economies of West African states if the efforts are not made to curtail the menace.
He stated that it was important that the governments, the banks, the judiciary, the legislature, the police, the academic institutions, the research institutions, the religious institutions, the media, civil society organization, the youth force and the individual join in the fight against ML/TF.
He stated that economic and financial crimes manifest in several ways, including bribery and corruption, fraud, forgery, with the ultimate goal of the perpetrators of these crimes being to legitimize the ill-gotten wealth, ensuring that its origin or source is obliterated. This, he said, is how money laundering is carried out.
Dr. Shehu noted that it was in this vein that the inter-universities speech contest on the subject was set-up to get the youth and students, who form the majority of every West African country involved in discussing the issues and finding lasting solutions.
He also said that most money laundering cases are undertaken by the youth, and so it was important that they (youth and students) are enlightened more on the issues for them to be aware of the implications such dubious activities could have on them as individuals and their countries as a whole.
“The inter-universities speech contest is therefore designed to serve as a platform for promoting knowledge of AML/CFT regimes and exchange of ideas on topical issues by directing the enormous power of human knowledge as a transformative force for the development of ECOWAS member States,” Dr. Shehu said.
For the competition, all five competitors made similar presentations, with the Nigerian participant, Miss Ada, scoring most points with her strong presentation, which made her the winner of the day.
According to her, youth in the universities can help fight ML/TF by researching and being abreast of new methods used by perpetrators.
She also emphasized the importance role social media could play in combating money laundering in West African.
Basing her speech on a quotation “We cannot build our future for the youth, but the youth for the future”, Miss Ada said the youth could have more access to employment opportunities when viable measures are adopted to fight corruption.
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