Buhari’s foreign trips ‘not a jamboree’

President Muhammadu Buhari’s foreign trips are not a jamboree but for the good of the country, his spokesman has said.

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, told correspondents in Abuja, on Monday, that the need to block all safe havens for looted funds from Nigeria was responsible for the president’s numerous trips outside the country.

Buhari’s trips, he said, have led to agreements with various countries on recovery and repatriation of stolen funds.

He said that top security officials in the country would, in the next one week, travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to further actualise an agreement on recovery and repatriation of stolen funds.

Shehu said: “You also see gradually the strategic efforts to go after the stolen funds abroad. The UAE is very important to the country.

“Don’t be surprised that in the coming week or two, you will have high level security officials leaving Nigeria for the UAE to begin to give expression to our wish to enjoy this new cooperation between the two countries with a view to recovering stolen assets.

“There are numerous agreements we have also signed with them. Drugs, human trafficking and stolen assets that have been taken abroad. So, the President want to make it difficult for people, even when they steal from Nigeria, there would be no hiding place for stolen assets.”