President Muhammadu Buhari will demand
the repatriation of looted public funds to countries of origin,
including Nigeria at the forthcoming 72nd United Nations General
Assembly, holding in New York, the Foreign Affairs minister, Geoffrey
Onyeama, said on Tuesday in Abuja...
He explained that the President would
lead a large delegation to the assembly which would hold between
September 12 and 25, 2017.
Onyeama told journalists at a briefing
that the fight against terrorism, human rights protection, repatriating
illicit financial assets to countries of origin, among other global
issues would top Nigeria’s agenda at the UN.
He pointed out that the government was facing challenges of repatriating stolen funds stashed in foreign countries.
The minister added, “The country would
push to actualise the UN resolution on ‘Promotion of International
Cooperation to Combat Illicit Financial Flows’ so that all the countries
of the world would be fully engaged in repatriating stolen funds to
countries of origin.
“For Nigeria, it is a developmental
issue; it impacts directly on the developmental trajectory of Nigeria
and other developing countries, that resources that we need to promote
development in the country are being siphoned out of the system and this
has negative impact on the developmental challenges that we face.”
He noted that Nigeria would renew calls for international support for the release of the remaining Chibok girls.
On human rights protection, the minister
said Nigeria would share with the international community the
challenges it faced in a number of conflict areas and the measures taken
to enthrone the culture of respect and protection of human rights.
The minister also disclosed that the issue of human rights abuse by UN peacekeepers would be on the front burner.
“There are cases of sexual abuse by UN
peacekeepers and one of the major issues that will be discussed will be
questions of sexual abuse and exploitation and what needed to be done to
address that and hold culprits and their countries to account,” the
minister stated.
Nigeria, Onyeama said, would make all
the necessary changes needed with regards to Nigerian contingents taking
part in peacekeeping operations.
He added that the government would also
call for the immediate reform of the UN Security Council to reflect
equitable and fair representation.
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