News
Help us Follow Dirty Money, Guinea asks G8
Guinea, one of Africa’s poorest nations despite abundant natural resources, has urged the G8 to back its battle with corruption by helping trace shell companies used to hide crooked deals and track dirty money flows.
The resulting increased prosperity, President Alpha Conde said, would help stem growing radicalism in a region already threatened by unrest in Mali that has placed Guinea and its neighbors at risk of becoming conduits for drugs and guns.
Guinea has long been one of Africa’s “geological scandals”: the West African country has rich reserves of iron ore, gold, bauxite and other minerals, but little has been tapped and half its 10 million people live in poverty, Reuters reported.
Speaking ahead of an annual G8 meeting expected to put the resources industry and transparency high on the agenda, Conde said Guinea needed logistical support from U.S., British and other governments and law enforcement agencies.
“Mining companies are…British, American, Canadian, Australian, and London’s City and New York are the centers of capitalism. If we want to fight for transparency, we need the support of the G8,” Conde told Reuters in London, before a discussion on transparency including other African leaders and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday.
“There is no corruption without corrupters.”
He also said Guinea might have to postpone a long-awaited parliamentary election scheduled for June 30 after opposition parties refused to register candidates.
A former Sorbonne law professor, Conde came to power in 2010 after half a century in opposition, promising to end decades of corruption and mismanagement. He has been supported by a raft of high-profile international advisers, including philanthropist George Soros and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“We have limited means.. we cannot follow shell companies in tax havens, so we need these big countries to help us find all the proof for payments and corruption,” Conde said, adding Guinea’s laws allowed it to annul corruptly obtained licenses.
“Also, sometimes, firms tell us they made 10 of profit. If they say 10 in Guinea and 100 in England, we can pursue that.”
Shell companies have frequently been blamed as tools in corrupt resources deals across Africa. Transparency activists say they are widely used to hide the ultimate beneficiaries, whether government officials or profiteering intermediaries.
OPAQUE DEALS
As part of Conde’s overhaul of the mining sector, Guinea is reviewing mining contracts, scrapping as many as 800 that had been lying fallow and scrutinizing those signed during what the government says was an era of opaque deals.
These include the license for the northern half of its giant Simandou iron ore deposit held by BSG Resources, the mining arm of Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s business empire, and partner Vale.
The original concession, secured by BSGR just before the death of then-President Lansana Conte, has come under scrutiny. In April, FBI agents arrested a BSGR representative on charges of obstructing a criminal investigation, tampering with a witness and destroying records. BSGR has denied wrongdoing.
Conde declined to comment on the outcome of the review but welcomed the FBI’s support.
“I believe in presuming innocence until guilt is proven,” he said. “But it is very important that the FBI and the U.S. judicial system was able to obtain this evidence – we would never have been able to.”
The Steinmetz case has generated much media interest and remains controversial for Guinea, whose critics say it suits the interests of the country’s advisers. But Conde says the advice of international banks, law firms and others was indispensable.
“Negotiating without it would have been (like) heading straight for the slaughterhouse,” he said.
Conde, a longtime advocate of African cooperation, called for greater regional collaboration on the infrastructure needed for tapping mineral resources, but also on security, describing as “embarrassing” France’s intervention in the Malian crisis.
Among his major concerns, Conde said, was the flow of guns and drugs that once went through the Sahara but now transiting countries such as his own, blaming the Western military action in Libya in particular for spreading weapons across the region.
“It is not about asking for help, because this concerns the G8,” he said. “It is in our common interest that the Sahara does not become another Afghanistan, as much for terrorism as for drug trafficking.”
Conde said increased radicalism was a function of poverty and high youth unemployment, but acknowledged that he was also concerned by the rise of hardline Islamist preachers.
“All of our countries are under threat. Why? Because al Qaeda is not just Tuaregs and Arabs. They are Malians, Ivorians, Senegalese, Guineans.”
New data from CFA Society Nigeria is reshaping how the country’s financial sector thinks about talent development, with Access emerging as the single largest source of CFA candidates in Nigeria, distinction industry watchers say signals a deeper shift in how leading institutions are building investment expertise from within.
In its Where Nigeria’s Finance Professionals Work series, published in a national daily, CFA Society Nigeria placed Access first among employers of CFA candidates nationwide, with 82 candidates enrolled in the programme, more than double the 38 recorded at the next-placed institution and well ahead of every other bank or financial services firm on the list.
Access also ranked second among employers of CFA charterholders, with 11 professionals who have completed all three levels of the Programme and met its experience and ethics requirements.
For an industry that has long measured itself by balance sheet size and branch count, the rankings point to a different kind of competition: one over who is building the deepest bench of certified, globally credentialed talent.
CFA Society Nigeria compiled the data from its Salesforce Membership Database as at June 2026, and described the exercise as a way of recognising employers whose people “bring rigour, integrity and global best practices into the workplace every day.”
Analysts following the sector say the outcome is notable less for the ranking itself than for what it suggests about talent strategy across Africa’s financial services industry. A single institution developing more aspiring charterholders than the rest of the market combined raises the floor for professional standards nationally, not just within one balance sheet.
Every candidate who advances through the CFA Programme adds to a shared pool of ethics-trained, analytically rigorous professionals that Nigeria’s capital markets, pension funds and asset managers all eventually draw from.
Access Holdings Group Chief Executive Officer Innocent C. Ike, commenting on the rankings, framed the achievement in terms of institution-building rather than recruitment: “Every candidate on that list represents our commitment to building institutions and professionals that endure.”
The remark echoes a broader thesis increasingly voiced by market observers, that talent depth, not scale alone, is what will determine which African financial institutions earn lasting global credibility.
That distinction sits at the centre of Access’s stated ambition to become the World’s Most Respected African Financial Services Group. If the CFA numbers are any indication, the Group’s route to that goal runs less through square metres of branch network and more through the calibre of the people sitting inside it, a bet that Nigeria’s finance professionals, and the institutions that will one day hire them, are already placing alongside Access.
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced plans to introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) baggage tracking technology across domestic and international airport terminals to tackle the growing problem of delayed, misrouted and missing luggages
Michael Achimugu, director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, disclosed this at a stakeholder engagement forum in Lagos.
Achimugu said the RFID-enabled system would replace the traditional barcode-based baggage tracking framework and provide airlines and passengers with real-time visibility of checked luggage from check-in to final collection.
According to him, the technology would improve baggage traceability, reduce mishandling and strengthen accountability across the baggage-handling chain.
Unlike conventional barcode systems, RFID technology allows baggage to be automatically scanned at multiple points without requiring direct line of sight, enabling real-time tracking of luggage throughout its journey.
Achimugu said issues involving short-landed, missing, lost or damaged baggage had remained among the major complaints from air travellers, alongside flight delays.
He said the introduction of RFID technology was therefore aimed at improving baggage-handling standards and restoring passenger confidence in the aviation sector.
The NCAA said the initiative also aligns with IATA Resolution 753, which requires airlines to track baggage at key points during the passenger journey.
The authority expects the technology to provide more accurate information on the location of luggage, facilitate quicker resolution of baggage-related complaints and improve the overall passenger experience.
The NCAA said the initiative would also strengthen accountability among airlines and other stakeholders involved in baggage handling at Nigerian airports.
eTranzact International Plc has called for increased adoption of digital payment solutions among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), saying access to technology is critical to improving business efficiency, financial inclusion and growth.
The company also said it was deepening its partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to expand digital access and financial literacy among small businesses across the country.
In a statement, the Divisional Head, Merchant Services, eTranzact, Mrs. Abimbola Reis, stated this at the SMEDAN/eTranzact Town Hall Engagement in Lagos recently, themed, “Financial Literacy and Inclusion for MSMEs Leveraging on Fintech Innovation.”
Reis described MSMEs as the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, noting that the sector comprises almost 40 million businesses and contributes significantly to economic growth and job creation.
However, she said many businesses continue to face challenges including limited access to finance, inefficient payment systems, weak financial reporting, cash-flow constraints and inadequate access to digital platforms.
She added that trust concerns also affect businesses’ ability to access finance, while heavy reliance on cash increases exposure to theft and makes payment reconciliation more difficult.
Representing the Director-General of SMEDAN, Prof. Yinka Fisher said the town hall was aimed at generating practical ideas and solutions that would support the growth and expansion of MSMEs.
“The essence of this engagement is to share ideas and concepts that will help MSMEs thrive and expand. Our partnership with eTranzact is about expanding the frontiers of MSMEs and ensuring they continue to grow,” he said.
Also speaking, representative of the Director-General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dr. Praise Adedigba said businesses could no longer depend solely on hard work to remain competitive.
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