The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has called on the international community to support efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to recover looted funds, including those taken outside the country.

Dogara made the call on Saturday at the opening ceremony of the inaugural meeting of International Corruption Hunters’ Network at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

“The timeliness of this meeting cannot be over-emphasized for a number of reasons.  First, it came at a time when the Nigerian government has launched a historic offensive against corruption. At the Vanguard of their integrity crusade is President Muhammed Buhari and other senior government officials who, through their commitment to the virtues of integrity, rekindled the confidence of Nigerians in the institution of government,” Dogara, represented by the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes, Kayode Oladele, said.

Speaking earlier, Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the EFCC, which hosted the well-attended meeting, said training and collaborations between anti-graft agencies are crucial in stemming corruption.

“Giving our prosecutors and investigators cutting – edge training cannot be achieved through classroom situations. Shared field experiences being offered by the Network enable those who have already passed through peculiar situations to relate to such experiences across restrictive national boundaries and jurisdictions to colleagues currently facing similar on-the-job challenges. This has been shown over time to be more impactful than many of the training programmes we send our investigators to,” Magu explained.

At the two-day meeting were the Norwegian Ambassador, Rolf Ree; Borno State Chief Judge, Kashim Zannah; social commentator and anti-corruption campaigner Dotun Oloko; former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, and; Executive Secretary, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-corruption in Nigeria, Bolaji Owosanoye, a Professor of Law, among others.