Idigbe Advocates Holistic Fight against Transnational Organised Crime

Wale Igbintade

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Anthony Idigbe, has called for a holistic approach to tackling transnational organised crimes (TOCs).

He spoke in Lagos at the Scholar and Faculty Programme of the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation, organised in collaboration with the Attorney General Alliance- Africa (AGA-Africa) on “Transnational Crime Awareness”.

Idigbe noted that as organised criminal networks have become globalised, efforts to combat them require a coordinated transnational response.

He said transnational crimes were threats to the state, its national and regional security and the rule of law.

Left unchecked, he said they could impede a country’s political and economic development, and limit the social and cultural development of society.

The SAN noted that more strategies should be adopted to raise international awareness about transnational crimes’ threat to international security.

This, he said, would galvanise multilateral action to constrain the reach and influence of these crimes; deprive them of enabling means and infrastructure; shrink the threat these crimes pose to citizen safety, national security, and governance; and ultimately defeat the transnational criminal networks that pose the greatest threat to national security.

Idigbe also said it was imperative to defeat transnational criminal networks that posed the greatest threat to national security by targeting their infrastructure, depriving them of their enabling means, and preventing the criminal facilitation of terrorist activities.

Idigbe stressed that practical, legal and political measures must be taken to deal with the problem.

According to him, at the United Nations and regional levels, there was now a much greater awareness of the dangers posed by transnational crime in its various manifestations.

He said creating awareness about transnational crimes was imperative, adding that various bodies have been instrumental in sensitising people on how best to curb them.

He noted that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are also engaged in the fight against transnational crimes by conducting assessments of anti–money laundering provisions in countries.

He added that the World Bank also carries out anti-corruption efforts and in 2011, pledged $1.5 billion to fight TOC over the next few years, recognising its corrosive impact on development.

Idigbe stressed the need to help countries strengthen governance, break the corruptive power of transnational criminal networks, and sever state-crime alliances.

“It is important to break the economic power of transnational criminal networks and protect strategic markets and financial systems from transnational crimes penetration and abuse.

“Also, transnational criminal networks that pose the greatest threat to national security must be defeated by targeting their infrastructures, depriving them of their enabling means, and preventing the criminal facilitation of terrorist activities,” Idigbe said.

The SAN, who is a visiting professor at Christopher University, said AGA-Africa has contributed to tackling transnational crimes.

He said it was established in 2016 and operates under the auspices of the Attorney General Alliance (AGA) based in the United States.

He added that it contributes to the reduction, prevention and elimination of transnational crime.

According to him, AGA-Africa had engaged in oral advocacy, awareness seminars and other events to draw attention to the dangers of transnational crime, and achieve capacity building to strengthen institutions tasked with upholding the rule of law be it at the level of law enforcement, judiciary, prosecutors, among others.