Nigeria has received 'firm assurances' of
cooperation from the United States and other countries to recover and
repatriate funds stolen from Nigeria, a State House press statement said on
Tuesday.
It said President Muhammadu Buhari told a visiting delegation of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, that it was now up to Nigeria to provide the international community with the facts and figures needed to drive the recovery effort.
"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,’’ the President told his
guests.
Citing the report submitted by the Ahmed
Joda-led transition committee, President Buhari expressed regret that several
revenue-generating institutions in the country have been compromised, thereby
weakening the economy.
On insecurity, the President said that
traditional rulers could play a key role in stemming the terrorism
and insurgency in Nigeria by assisting the government with cost-effective
intelligence gathering.
He 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.
Earlier in the day, in a meeting with
state governors, Mr. Buhari declared era of impunity, lack of accountability,
and fiscal recklessness in the management of national resources to be over.
Sultan Abubakar had earlier presented
the Northern Traditional Rulers' recommendations to the President on issues
related to national development.
The Sultan 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
fulfill its promises to Nigerians.
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