The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) yesterday pledged to support Nigeria in its fight against corruption, terrorism and illicit drug in the country
Yury Fredotov, the executive director of UNODC, made the pledge when he paid a courtesy visit to Geoffrey Onyeama, the minister of foreign affairs, in Abuja.
“The main objective of my mission to Nigeria is to promote continuous synergy and cooperation in many areas of combating transnational organized crime, corruption, terrorism prevention, drug control, promote justice and rule of law and I am looking forward to meet his Excellency the president of Nigeria, as well as other ministers and officials to discuss issues related to our corporations and our commitment,” he said.
Speaking further, he stated that “your country is the largest in Africa in terms of partnership with UNODC and one of the largest worldwide, and we have a mission here which is the third largest mission of UNODC outside the headquarters and we can work very hard to promote cooperation and support Nigeria by all means.”
Responding, Onyeama called on the UN agency to support Nigeria in its fight against trerrorism, illicit drugs and drug trafficking, which remain top priorities for the present government in the country.
He said that UNODC was one organization that Nigeria closely cooperated with, as its mandate was important and resonated very closely with the priority of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
“We appreciate how closely we are working with you and the support you are providing to this country in our anti corruption efforts and also in the recovering of stolen loot from these countries,” said Onyeama
According to him, Nigeria has challenges with insurgency in the northeastern part of the country where there has been some cooperation with UNODC.
