African countries are losing $148 billion every year due to corruption, President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina said during the commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day under the theme Break the Corruption Chain.
In Adesina’s words, $55 billion a year is enough to light up and power Africa – an amount, he said could be realised given the continent’s $82 trillion in undiscovered resources.
The former Minister of Agriculture in his native Nigeria pointed out that tens of millions of Africans still study without proper light, 700 million Africans are without access to clean cooking energy, and 600,000 people – 50 percent of them women – die every year due to a lack of access to clean cooking energy.
“That is an indication of government failure,” he stated
“The cost of corruption is massive; it turns the whole continent into darkness. Because of corruption, Africa is known more for its darkness than light. It is important to understand the negative impact of corruption on the continent,” Adesina said.
“These are money that should be going into education, health, water and sanitation sectors; wherever you have massive corruption, development takes a back seat and slow things down’’.
“Transparency is the key; detecting corruption is important, but preventing corruption is also important, therefore it is in the interest of Africa to prevent corruption”, he said.
Adesina called for strengthening of institutions to address corruption and he warned that stern measures must be taken: “If there is no consequence for bad behaviour, bad behaviour will continue on and on.”