President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday in Abuja urged the United Nations
Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to facilitate the faster recovery of
Nigeria’s stolen wealth stashed abroad.
Receiving the Executive Secretary of UNODC, Mr Yury Fedotov, President
Buhari said that the process of recovering the stolen assets had “become
tedious’’ to the consternation of many Nigerians.
“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.
“It is taking very long and Nigerians are becoming impatient,” the
President said.
President Buhari told Mr. Fedotov that his government has 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’’.
“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, ’’ the
President said.
President Buhari also promised that his administration will work with the
UN agency to rehabilitate young Nigerians who have been misled into
consumption of illicit drugs and drug trafficking.
Mr. Fedotov told President Buhari that UNODC has chosen Nigerian as a pilot
country for support and strategic cooperation in the fight against drugs
and corruption.