 Let me see first how very pleased I am to be a part of this celebration, joining the ICPC Board, the management and staff to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this important national and regional institution. Twenty years have passed since we passed the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, and set up the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission as the first anti-corruption agency in Nigeria, and possibly even in our region. And this was three years before the United Nations Convention against Corruption, ONCAC, was adopted, and five years before ONCAC came into effect. So in many ways we are pioneers of the anti-corruption struggle in our region, and indeed in very many parts of the world. The threefold mandate of the ICPC remains relevant today as it was 20 years ago, namely the enforcement of laws against corruption, the prevention of acts of corruption, and public education and enlightenment against corruption. Our government has supported the fulfillment of these statutory mandates, first by demonstrating the political will and support for anti-corruption measures from the number one citizen of the president of Nigeria. We have seen demonstrable political will, and that political will has afforded all our anti-corruption agencies the latitude to do their work without interference. Secondly, by taking measures that reinforce the prevention, the prevention mandate of the ICPC. For example, the enforcement of the TSA, the TSA policy, the strict application of PVNs, which is our biometric information, which is required for opening bank accounts and for maintaining bank accounts, strengthening of the e-government system, comprising our GIFMIS and IPIS, which are electronic platforms for managing human resource material in the public service, and also for budgetary purposes. The launching last year of the open Treasury portal, through which payments for works, goods and services may be monitored now even globally, and by encouraging the use of the Freedom of Information Act by civil society to elicit information from government agencies. The public education and citizen engagement mandate is supported by government's encouragement of a vibrant role for citizens, the media and civil society in the anti-corruption crusade. The ICPC, the EFCC, and the EFCC have held several public participation campaigns to encourage civic involvement in the anti-corruption struggle. Now, the theme of this webinar, combating corruption and elicit financial flows, looking at new measures and strategies, I think again just reminds us that corruption remains a scourge to our development aspirations and has become, for us in the developing world, an existential issue. Over the years, massive public resources and assets have been directly stolen, diverted, deliberately misapplied to gratify corrupt tendencies, stashed away in foreign jurisdictions, and made susceptible to pilferage by the inequitable and unjust international economic system that continues to undermine the social and economic development aspirations of poorer countries, especially those from Africa. Without effectively combating corruption and elicit financial flows and promoting international cooperation for asset recovery and asset return, Africa cannot achieve the sustainable development goals. Goal 16 of the SDGE is devoted to corruption and specifically target 16-4 commits to reducing elicit financial flows and arms flows and strengthening the recovery and return of stolen assets and combating all forms of organized crime. Both the UN General Assembly and the African Union have committed to measures to fight corruption and stem elicit financial flows. UNCAC and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption have remained the touchstones of the fight against corruption and elicit financial flows. Other initiatives include the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the AU Assembly Special Declaration on Elicit Financial Flows. More recently, the UN General Assembly Resolution 74-2006 of 19 December 2019 commits to promotion of international cooperation to combat elicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on asset return to foster sustainable development. Nigeria has demonstrated leadership in the advocacy for collective efforts to stem elicit financial flows from Africa and has also been at the forefront of advocacy for stemming elicit financial flows and promoting international cooperation for asset recovery and asset return at the UN General Assembly and as the AU Champion of Anti-Corruption, our President President Buhari in his report to the Assembly of the Union, the 32nd Ordinary Session and at the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly affirmed Nigeria's commitment to continue to advocate for the facilitation of recovery of elicit financial assets. Towards this end, Nigeria proposed the draft Common African Position on asset return, KAPA, at the 36th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the Africa Union in February 2020 at which KAPA, at which the KAPA was adopted. I'm aware that Professor Bola Jo Awasame, Chairman of the ICPC, was a member of the working group that produced the KAPA. One more matter of concern that the international community must work together to solve is the matter of secret corporate ownership and the whole issue of beneficial ownership. For us in the developing world and especially in Africa, breaking the wall of secret corporate ownership is crucial because secrecy around corporate ownership is implicated in our underdevelopment. Although anonymous companies are not always illegal, nevertheless secrecy provides a convenient cover for criminality and corruption. Our experience in Nigeria, as in other developing countries, is that anonymous corporate ownership covers, as it were, a multitude of scenes, including conflict of interest, corruption, tax evasion, money laundering, and even terrorism financing. At the May 2016 London Anti-Corruption Summit, President Mohammad Uwari made a commitment to establish a public register of the beneficial owners of all companies operating in Nigeria. Following that commitment, Nigeria joined the Open Government Partnership in December 2016 and was subsequently submitted a national action plan prioritizing the establishment of an all-encompassing and publicly accessible register. Nigeria is in the process of amending its corporate laws to implement these measures and mandate the disclosure of beneficial interest in a company's shares and prescribe punitive measures for failure to disclose. We are mindful of the challenges dodging advocacy for stemming of illegal illicit financial flows, promotion of asset recovery, and return to victim countries, and the enforcement of beneficial ownership disclosure, not just in our country but globally. We note, for example, the resistance of some countries to stemming of illicit financial flows, curbing tax evasion, and supporting asset return to countries of origin. And we note that the laws passed in some developed countries to mandate beneficial ownership disclosure do not set examples for best practice, as they do not cover territories and dependencies where most of the stolen assets from developed countries end up. I sincerely hope that this regional webinar will advance the advocacy further and bring innovative solutions to these internationally shared concerns. I must begin to conclude by saying that there is no magic bullet to ending corruption or stemming illicit financial flows or promoting asset recovery and asset return. We must simply do the hard work that is required and be determined to succeed. We must make corruption expensive for those who engage in it and send the unequivocal message that corruption simply does not pay. We must also make all members of the international community see the benefit of shared prosperity and inclusive growth and development. It is the unenviable but noble task of the ICPC and other anti-corruption agencies to make corruption unattractive to its disciples and facilitate new approaches to stemming illicit financial flows and promoting asset recovery and return. As you ruminate on the key issues to dominate the U.N. General Assembly special session on corruption in 2021, I urge you to come up with concrete proposals for Nigeria to take to the U.N. and also for all of our colleagues in the region to take to the United Nations and to take to the United Nations in order to begin to positively shape policy, especially in the way and manner that best promotes the interests of our nation and our region. Domestically, we must also be prepared to change, to some extent, our tactics in the fight against corruption. And listening to Edward Callon, I am convinced that there are many steps that can be taken, many practical steps that can be taken. We must democratize as it were the fight against corruption. Many of our citizens are interested in the fight against grand corruption and grand corruption, we know, cripples our economy. But they also want to see action in what may be regarded as petty corruption, in their interfaces with government officials, either in the search for certifications, approvals of any kinds, licenses and all of that. Many want to see that corruption at that level is tackled and tackled effectively. And I think that we must begin to look at innovative ways, creative ways of doing so. Secondly, we must protect even more whistleblowers, persons who come forward with information against corruption. We must protect those who are prepared to fight against corruption and who are prepared to do so without necessarily disclosing their identities. And even those who may wish to disclose their identities. The other thing that we must take note of is that corruption fights back and it is fighting back and it has the resources to do so. It has the resources to fight back in recent times, one of the chief ways that we are seeing more frequently is the use of unscrupulous individuals who are paid to use social media platforms to make outrageous allegations against persons perceived to be fighting corruption. The technique is not new. The idea is to tar everybody with the same brush so that you cannot recognize the truly corrupt or even the truly corrupt activities. And genuine whistleblowing is discredited as a result because our court system is slow. They count on the possibility that these victims may not pursue litigation or prosecution. We must devise even new legal strategies to ensure that these dirty tricks not only fail but are penalized. The fight against corruption is nuanced. It is not going to get easier by the day. As a matter of fact, it will get more difficult by the day and many will become discouraged in standing up against corruption. But it's our duty both as institutions, as individuals, especially in developing countries where corruption has sought a devastating effect to ensure that we prioritize the fight against corruption and continually devise new ways and new approaches even as the hydra itself continues to manifest in different ways. I'm happy to know that the ICPC has credibly discharged itself of its mandate in the past 20 years. Let no doubt that this is due to the solid leadership that it has enjoyed from inception through the first board led by the late Honorable Justice Mustafa Kondit, then the Honorable Justice Alaykar Ayyola, and then Mr. Ekbunta and the current fourth board led by Professor Bola Joawasoy. And the tireless efforts of its board members at various times, its management and staff. I wish you all a happy 20th anniversary. Government looks forward to the recommendations of your conference towards improving the fight and ultimately defeating corruption. Thank you very much. God bless you all. Thank you. Your Excellency.