President MUHAMMADU BUHARI has joined his Zambian and Ethiopian counterparts in calling for unity among African countries to demand unconditional repatriation of assets stolen from the continent.

 

The call came at a high-level event on Illicit Financial Flows held on the sidelines of the ongoing 74th United Nations General Assembly in New York.

 

The theme of the event was “Promotion of International Cooperation to Combat Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and Strengthen Good Practices on Assets Recovery and Return to Foster Sustainable Development”.

 

According to some estimates, illicit financial flows from Africa is as much as 50 billion dollars annually.

 

In his address, BUHARI stated that Nigeria alone lost about 157.5 billion dollars to IFFs between 2003 and 2012.

 

He said although his administration had recovered “millions of dollars stolen from our country” in the last five years, a lot more was still stuck in foreign bank accounts.

 

According to him, a combination of “international laws, different jurisdictions and justice systems”, make it deliberately difficult for repatriation noting that any lasting solution to the challenges would require international cooperation and coordination.