Buhari Invites US, Others to Help Recover Looted Funds

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said his administration had received firm assurances of cooperation from the United States and other countries in his quest to recover and repatriate funds stolen from Nigeria.

Mr. Femi Adesina, special adviser on Media and Publicity, said in a statement that the President spoke while granting audience to members of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Adesina quoted Buhari as saying that it was now up to Nigeria to provide the international community with the facts and figures needed to drive the recovery effort.

He said he would be busy, in the next three months, getting the facts that would help in recovering the stolen funds.

“In the next three months, our administration will be busy getting those facts and the figures to help us recover our stolen funds in foreign countries,” Adesina quoted the President as saying.

Citing the report submitted by the Ahmed Joda-led transition committee, President Buhari said that several revenue-generating institutions in the country had been compromised.

On insecurity, the President was also quoted as telling the traditional rulers that they would play a key role in stemming terrorism and insurgency in the country.

This, he said, they would do by assisting the government with cost-effective intelligence gathering.

Buhari also assured the traditional rulers that his administration was working hard to end insecurity and terrorism in the country in the shortest possible time with the cooperation of neighbouring countries and the international community.

Acknowledging that Nigerians expected a lot from his administration, the President appealed for patience and understanding while his government works diligently to speedily overcome the huge national challenges it inherited.

The Sultan had earlier presented the Northern Traditional Rulers’ recommendations to the President on issues related to national development.

He told the President that as custodians of tradition and stakeholders in the Nigerian project, the traditional rulers had a responsibility to always advise political leaders on the “path of truth and justice.”

“We have always advised our leaders, but their acceptance of our advice is their own prerogative,” the Sultan said.

The traditional rulers assured the President of their unflinching support for his administration’s efforts to fulfil its promises to Nigerians.

The traditional rulers later joined the President in the traditional breaking of fast.

They were also joined by some state governors.