GIABA’s DG, Edwin Harris to deliver Realnews 11th anniversary lecture

The Management of Realnews Magazine and Publications Limited, publishers of Realnews Magazine Online, has announced that Edwin W. Harris Jr, Director General of the ECOWAS Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), Senegal will deliver the Realnews 11th Anniversary Lecture.

The lecture on “Threats of Illicit Funds Flow to the African Economy” will be held at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.

The director general’s acceptance to deliver the lecture was communicated to Realnews in a letter dated September 25, 2023, that he personally signed. “With the immense interest I have generated in illicit financial flow from Africa and its negative impact on the governance, economies and other social facets of the African people, I am pleased to confirm my participation and graciously accept your invitation,” Harris Jr. wrote.

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Harris Jr. has over 16 years of progressive experience in the public sector and in non-profit structures with in-depth knowledge and skills in governance, transparency and financial crimes. He has relevant skills on issues relating to governance, in the fight against money laundering, in the formulation of policies and the implementation of anti-corruption strategies.

From November 2019 to July 2022, he was director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Liberia. Under his tenure and to his credit, he, among other things, successfully coordinated the validation and publication of Liberia’s National Risk Assessment (NRA) report. Until his assumption of duty at GIABA, Harris Jr. was a Lecturer at the University of Liberia.

The lecture will be chaired by Mohammed Bello-Koko, managing director of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, who will also moderate the panel session.

Realnews, a general interest magazine, is an online publication that thrives on investigative journalism. We have expertise in reporting the oil and gas sector with its attendant environmental challenges. We aim to unearth exclusive stories about real people and the challenges they are facing in their day-to-day activities. We do this bearing in mind that the government can only act to influence the lives of people positively if they are aware of their true situation. Hence, our objective is to use our investigative skills to ferret out information in the sectors we focus on and produce an unbiased report which will actually influence the government and decision-makers to take actions that will make society better.