Lagos — The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in West Africa (GIABA) would, from 2010, launch a special award for post graduate students with the best assessed dissertation on money laundering and other offences, including drug and people trafficking in Nigerian universities.

The Director General, Dr. Abdullahi Shehu said during the 2009 Youth Open House event at the University of Lagos that the decision was taken to encourage youth participation in efforts at reducing and combating menaces of money laundering and of terrorist financing in West Africa.

Delivering a speech on 'Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist financing and Drug Trafficking through Youth Development', Director General of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho said the most important issues dominating both national and international discussions was the target of youth in illicit trafficking and abuse of drugs.

He said the country was neither a producer nor a consumer of hard drugs, but "we are basically a transit country in the international illicit drug trafficking route. At the moment, the whole of West Africa is said to have become a vital transit point to illicit traffickers of narcotic drugs."

This, he said, underscored the necessity for not only Nigeria, but the entire West Africa to collaborate with the international community to combat the menace of illicit drugs.

According to him, Heads of States and Governments of ECOWAS made a political declaration and endorsed a regional action plan in December 2008 to contain the problem of drugs in the sub-region.

He regretted that available statistics show that more than 25 percent of those arrested for drug trafficking and abuse were youths and minors. "Youths start engaging in drug activities as early as eleven years; this is highly regrettable as Nigerian youths are exposed to dangers inherent in drug in their formative years."

Head, Strategy and Reorientation Unit of the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC), Mr. Gabriel Aduda charged Nigerians not to see the fight against crime as an EFCC battle alone. "I am confident and concerned that the systematic and pervasive corruption cannot be checked without the people's participation. Such participation has to go beyond the occasional emotive outburst against grand corruption", he said, adding that Nigeria would labour in vain if foot soldiers did not join the fight.

He noted that youths were an integral part of EFCC's strategy to prevent economic, financial crimes and corruption. "They constitute about 70 percent of the population in our nation and as such the biggest single stakeholder group."