President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday promised to take the fight against corruption and insecurity in the country to Nigeria porous borders.
The President linked increasing globalization and advent of new technologies to the worsening security situations across the world.
President Buhari stated this in his remarks at Munich Security Conference held in Abuja.
He lamented that illicit outflows of resources within Nigeria and Africa have increased with attendant sophistication due to the fast pace of technological advancement which has also fuelled terrorism and the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons.
According to him, illicit flows compound the problems of corruption and impede efforts towards sustainable economic growth.
“Illicit flows have further fuelled terrorism and the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, ” he said.
Continuing, he said, ”This is why, I will continue to take decisive action to fight corruption and confront insecurity especially in the border areas.
“In addition, relevant agencies have also been mandated to work towards strengthening regional and international partnership to address these threats.”
He said that the West African sub-region in particular was not only a victim of Illicit financial flows but also of human trafficking, arms and drugs trade with dire consequences on the wellbeing of the people and on national security.
He said, ”Here in the West African sub-region we have taken important steps to address some of our security concerns through improved political governance as contained in the relevant regional mechanisms of ECOWAS, which I currently have the privilege of chairing.”
Besides, Buhari said “With the advent of globalization and new technologies bringing nations and peoples closer, and creating new opportunities of interaction and trade, comes significant issues of security.
“We can see through the increasing number of evil actors, especially perpetrators of organized crime who profit from the illicit flows of assets out of the African continent.”
To effectively combat illicit flows, Buhari said that it is necessary that the nations collectively bring adequate resources and reinforce capabilities to address transnational organized crime since no government can do it alone.
He said, “I am aware that one of the key facilitators of transnational organized crime including illicit flows, is the porous nature of our borders.
“This is a major challenge to our region. In this context, we will continue to count on the support of our international partners for new technologies to effectively police our borders.
President Buhari welcomed the hosting of the Munich conference in Abuja on the eve of the 55th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS.
