Unlocking Africa's financial prospects in a digitized economy: Financial Technologies, illicit flows, and debt management. The case of Nigeria

Abstract

Africa’s financial technology (FinTech) has significantly improved during the last several years as her economy evolved. Nigeria, as a vital part of the continent is undergoing so much as Africa is experiencing. Nigerian economy has undergone significant changes in recent years, particularly with the advent of FinTech. The infrastructure for Illicit Financial Flows, IFFs, evolved as well. To combat or curb IFFs and provide a stable operating environment for the economy, Nigeria must seek to increase transparency in financial decision-making and public debt management. In this study, regression and correlation were employed, together with primary, and secondary data gathered from the National Bureau of Statistics, to assess this subject matter. The aim was to unlock Nigeria's financial prospects via curbing IFFs and instilling transparency in public debt management by properly deploying of FinTech in Nigeria. According to the results, weak or compromised FinTech are increasing facilitating IFFs, there's great dearth of digital expertise, the transient nature of digital technology via virtual and traditional banks is actually obscuring demand for IFFs, regulatory frame is albeit obsolete and finally, there is a call for a multi-national approach. These findings will be helpful for policy-makers working hard to rid this country of IFFs and strengthen our public debt management mechanisms.

Keywords: Illicit Financial flows, FinTech; debt management; Credibility