By Onyi Ough
The 21st International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) provided a crucial platform to learn, engage, network, and form strategic partnerships in the fight against corruption. The event allowed me to reconnect with friends and colleagues, both old and new. While we cannot completely eradicate corruption, we can make significant strides to make it extremely difficult for corrupt actors to thrive with pragmatic approaches and patience. Here are my 5 key lessons learned from what I heard and what was less emphasised at the IACC:
1. From Enablers to Disablers – Incentivising the Fight Against Dirty Money: We must find effective ways to turn professional corruption enablers into disablers. How can we incentivise them to become champions in stopping the flow of dirty money? This remains a critical question.
2. Building systems to unmask the real owners of companies: Implementing beneficial ownership transparency reforms is essential to disrupt transnational corruption and corrupt actors. Sharing beneficial ownership data across borders is crucial for impactful change. Open Ownership’s work on beneficial ownership standards facilitates this sharing, making it easier and more effective.
3. Vaccinating the Future Generation Against Corruption
Urgent and concerted efforts are required to prevent corruption from occurring in the first place. Anti-corruption education is crucial for building a future generation that is immune to corruption. Step Up Nigeria has worked for over five years to achieve behavioural change, with children taking action against corruption. Platforms like IACC should prioritise and intensify the discourse on anti-corruption education for young people.
4. Collective Action Against Corruption, breaking the silos: The conference highlighted the vital role of involving various sectors in anti-corruption reforms. We should actively involve diverse groups, such as bankers, climate activists, tax specialists, school heads, teachers, tech companies, etc, for a more robust discourse and to build collective action. Including diverse sectors will help create more champions. How can we inspire non-anti-corruption practitioners to lead these reforms?
5. The Need to Track the Impact of IACC Conferences: The IACC should consider going beyond declarations to identify tangible targets all participants can commit. Establishing monitoring mechanisms or creating a platform for organisations to update progress on targets will help ensure accountability and continuous improvement.