President Muhammadu Buhari, has on Thursday, said that Nigerians who engaged in fradulent and criminal activities outside the shores of the country were not representing the values of the vast majority of Nigerians, noting that those involved in crimes were in the minority.
The President, who said criminality would not be condoned, whether in a foreign land or back home in Nigeria, added that the law was always there to take its full course.
Buhari at a meeting with the Nigerian community in Japan on the sidelines of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development, taking place in Yokohama said, “Let me also say that there are a few Nigerians in the Diaspora that are giving us a bad name by engaging in criminal activities.
“These Nigerians are a minority, they do not represent the values of our country, and I plead with them to change their ways. We will not condone any crime whether at home or abroad, and we will also not allow these Nigerians define us as a people with reputation for criminality.”
At a separate meeting with the Japanese government’s officials, Buhari sought help to combat piracy and illegal fishing in the Gulf of Guinea.
The Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, who led the officials of his country to the bilateral talks, specifically thanked Buhari for honouring the invitation to the TICAD7 and Nigeria’s decision to sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
The PM made a pledge of $300,000 to support Nigeria’s National Defence College and another 12 million Yen for Nigeria’s public health sector.
Nigeria also signed a €50m Memorandum of Understanding with the European Union on Thursday to help in addressing the humanitarian crisis in the country’s North-East.
