BY Fredrick Nwabufo
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja said that the process of recovering stolen funds had become tedious.
The president made the statement while receiving the executive secretary of United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, and emphasised that the process had “become tedious’’ to the consternation of many Nigerians.
He urged the UN agency to facilitate the faster recovery of Nigeria’s stolen wealth stashed abroad.
“We are looking for more cooperation from the EU, United States, other countries and international institutions to recover the nation’s stolen assets, particularly proceeds from the stolen crude oil,” the president said, according to a statement issued by Garba Shehu, his spokesman.
“It is taking very long and Nigerians are becoming impatient.”
Buhari told Fedotov that his government had worked very hard in the past 11 months to reverse the very negative global perception of Nigeria on corruption.
“Our genuine efforts to deal with corruption and drugs have earned us international respect and this has encouraged us to do more,” he said.
“We know that by fighting the scourge of drugs and corruption and rebuilding trustworthiness, integrity, good business practices, and imposing discipline on youths to avoid drugs, we are not doing a favour to the international community, we are doing a favour to ourselves.”
Buhari also promised that his administration would work with the UN agency to rehabilitate young Nigerians who have been misled into consumption of illicit drugs and drug trafficking.
Fedotov told Buhari that UNODC had chosen Nigeria as a pilot country for support and strategic cooperation in the fight against drugs and corruption.
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