Help us recover looted funds, Buhari tells UN Assembly

President Muhammadu Buhari has told a gathering of over 150 world leaders that recovery of stolen wealth from Nigeria will only be possible through their cooperation.

Buhari said this while delivering his speech at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

The President further stated that ISIS fighters who were under fierce attacks were fleeing to the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel where armies had weaker capacities to defeat them.

Buhari said, “Through our individual national efforts, state institutions are being strengthened to promote accountability, and to combat corruption and asset recovery.  These can only be achieved through the international community cooperating and providing critical assistance and material support.

“We shall also cooperate in addressing the growing transnational crimes such as forced labour, modern day slavery, human trafficking and cybercrime.

“These cooperative efforts should be sustained. We must collectively devise strategies and mobilise the required responses to stop fleeing ISIS fighters from mutating and infiltrating into the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, where there are insufficient resources and response capacity is weak.”

The President said Nigeria’s commitment towards promoting democracy in Africa was unshakable, adding that the nation had helped maintain democracy in Cote D’Ivoire and The Gambia.

Buhari thanked the UN for assisting Nigeria to tackle its humanitarian crisis in the North-East.

He also commended the UN’s role in helping to settle thousands of innocent civilians caught in the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.