British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Sir Andrew Pocock has counseled President Muhammadu Buhari on how to recover the money stolen from the Federal Government’s coffers.

Pocock said rather than addressing corruption as a whole, the President could look into the military’s budget in terms of procurement or monies diverted from the Federation Account.

The Ambassador, made this suggestions during a live programme on ChannelsTv.

He was reacting to the declaration of Buhari, who had vowed to recover stolen billions from the nation’s treasury during his meeting with the 36 state governors.

On how to make it possible, Pocock said; “Part of the issue is to trace and return stolen monies but that is only a tip of the iceberg. The real question is to break up the system routines, organisations and individuals that contribute to the leeching of Nigerian public money overseas. More important is to assault the mentality of seeing public money as a free gold.”

The envoy who stated that he was not in any way giving advice to the President, disclosed that Buhari might succeed if he fights corruption across board.

“The way to do it is to pick areas of primary focus and zero in on that. So, if you are looking at military reform, it might be to look at procurement. If it is to look at the oil sector, it might be revenue diversion, money that never reaches the federation account never mind oil theft. So to breakup corruption cocoon into project sizes, you can focus on a particular difficulty,” he said.

Speaking on British intervention on insurgency, the ambassador disclosed his country’s readiness to partner in the fight.

He said the British government was ready to train the Nigerian Army battalion and brigades in Maiduguri.

“What we need more is access. Nigerian army should allow us to talk to the very senior people. Allow us access to the troops; provide us with the tools that are required, communications, and uniforms. The troops are there but not as well equipped as they might have been. That can be rectified. Nigeria has a military budget of 5 billion dollars a year that is more than adequate to provide the basic inputs the troops need.

“They should be trained to give them confidence that they have good chance of staying alive and winning,” the envoy added.