President Buhari Tasks Foreign Governments on stolen funds

President Muhammadu Buhari, has  told the international community that the readiness of developed countries to provide safe havens for stolen funds encourages corruption.

President Buhari, who made the disclosure while addressing world leaders at the ongoing 70th General Assembly of the United Nations in the US, also appealed to them to facilitate the return of identified stolen funds and assets to their countries of origin.

He, therefore, urged them to enact strict measures that would dismantle the havens for ill-gotten wealth.

The President also observed that corruption, cross-border financial crimes, cyber crimes and human trafficking were major social vices militating against the collective good of the world in the 21st century.

Urging the international community to unite against the vices, the President reiterated his unwavering determination to fight corruption head-on.

While lauding the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, adopted last Friday by world leaders, President Buhari also proposed the adoption of peace as a seventh essential element of the goals.

He said the greatest want of the world at the moment was peace and adopting it as one of the important elements of the SDGs was very crucial to the realization of other goals.

The President told the UN session that his government was poised to stamp out insecurity and terrorism in the Nigeria, assuring that the abducted Chibok Girls would be rescued.

He expressed concern over the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and called for effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty to ensure that small arms and light weapons could only be legally transferred.

Reminding the global assembly that peaceful co-existence and self-determination were among the key principles that led to the establishment of the United Nations, President Buhari called for the urgent resolution of the question of self-determination for the people of Palestine and Western Sahara.