If You Really Like Us, Send Us Back Our Money Stashed In Your Countries, Buhari Tells Hypocritical Western Leaders

President Muhammadu Buhari on September 21, 2016 in New York during the US-Africa summit on the sidelines of the UN 71st General Assembly

President Muhammadu Buhari tacitly blasted western leaders in New York, urging them to return the billions of dollars stolen from Nigeria and kept in their countries to run their economies, while Nigerians are stuck in squalor and hopelessness.

They should also, Mr. Buhari added, halt future illicit financial flows to their countries if they are sincere about helping Nigeria pull out of its economic woes.

Corruption, he said, must be tackled headlong by all because it contributes to the denial of the resources required for development.

Western leaders often express outrage at gargantuan corruption in Nigeria, but take years to return the billions stashed in their banks and running their economies.

Mr. Buhari was speaking in New York at the High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development, the Presidency said in a statement to TheSimonAtebaNews.

According to the Nigerian leader, fighting corruption together “will guarantee a stronger international defence of the right to development.”

Illicit financial assets stashed abroad, he argued, deprive developing countries including Nigeria, and invariably of their national wealth and resources needed for development.

He cautioned that non-repatriation of illicit financial assets could impinge on the determination of States to achieve an all-inclusive 2030 sustainable development.

President Buhari called on the United Nations “to remain vocal and active in addressing the negative impact of non-repatriation of illicit financial assets on their countries of origin,” adding that “as soon as stolen assets are legally established, they should swiftly be repatriated.”

The President, while welcoming the commemoration of three decades of the Declaration on the Right to Development, which he observed, coincides with the first anniversary of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, said “it reminds us all of the essence of development and provides us with the opportunity to reaffirm commitments to converting this right into the policies and operational activities of relevant actors at the national, regional and international levels.”

President Buhari said that as a developing country, Nigeria considers the Right to Development an inalienable right of fundamental importance, stressing that at the national level, his administration has been making strenuous efforts to ensure that the right to development is at the centre of all development initiatives.