Inspite of the fact that the international community has made the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing a priority, the menace is still on the rise especially in emerging economies.
This is all to protect the integrity and stability of international financial system as well as cut off resources lost to syndicates to finance terrorists among others.
Since the menace has been a global phenomenon, wiping it out would therefore require all hands on deck.
It is worrisome to note that on an annual basis, millions of dollars are being channeled through nefarious means to fuel wars and other illicit activities around the globe.
In one report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says it is impossible to know exactly how much money is "legalised" every year. They put the sum between 2 and 5 per cent of the global GDP, and if so, around $2.5tn was laundered in 2014, more than the GDP of the Russian Federation, India, Italy or Brazil.
It is in the news that the Director General of the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has stressed that money laundering and terrorist financing constitute major obstacles to "our development".
He made this disclosure to student representatives who met recently in Banjul at the 5th Regional Inter-Universities Speech contest held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre.
Annually, a lot of female children, illicit drugs and illegal arms are smuggled from one country or place to another, while funding of terrorist organizations continues.
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The business is indeed booming, posing a great challenge to our time.
With our porous borders, weak and sub-standard surveillance systems to detect some of these illegal activities, Africa is increasingly becoming a target.
It is a fact that illegal transactions or financial discrepancies can take place anywhere in the world.
However, money laundering and other organised crimes have had an adverse impact on regional security and development, including erosion of image and reputation of member states, loss of foreign direct investmentand lag in infrastructural development.
Indeed, significant achievements have been made in curtailing the menace, but efforts are still needed to wipe it out.
Thus, there is a need for African countries to engage fully with global financial compliance institutions such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). African countries need to work with these organizations and, most importantly, implement the policies and procedures they recommend to streamline their financial mechanisms.
We therefore hope that delegates at the 5th Regional Inter-Universities Speech Contest on the Impact of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing on Economies of West Africa would do justice to the event by sharing the knowledge gained from it with their colleagues in their respective countries.
We need to intensify our advocacy and sensitization, thus closing barriers and channels that could be used to fan these illegal activities across the globe.
