Juliana Taiwo-Obalony, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, admonished the nation’s restive youths to calm down and keep the peace.

“Our own generation is on the last lap, we are exiting,” the President said adding that keeping the peace was in the best interest of the youths.

He spoke at State House, Abuja, when he receivedthe Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, Nigeria’s former Minister of Environment.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement said Buhari made the remarks  in response to the recent EndSARS protest and the mayhem and destruction of public and private property that came in its wake.

“It is in the interest of the youths to keep the peace. They want jobs, infrastructure and development. I have sent a team led by the Chief of Staff (Prof. Ibrahim Gambari) to go round the country, talk to traditional rulers, who will then talk to the youths. The views of the youths have been heard.”

President Buhari said the administration inherited severe infrastructural deficits, “and that is what we are fighting to correct. We can’t just sit, fold our hands, and do nothing. We are doing our best within the limits of resources.”

President Buhari rued the fact that COVID-19 had shrunk the global economy, noting that “this is something you can’t see, smell, or hear,” but which has wrought devastation on lives and livelihoods round the world.

On climate change, he said Nigeria was concerned about the recharge of the Lake Chad, which had great implications on security, irregular migration and livelihoods in the country.

Protests legitimate but must be peaceful – Mohammed

Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, has said the #ENDSARS protests in which young people demanded for an end to police brutality, social justice, governance are all legitimate,  but must be done peacefully.

Mohammed, who is Nigeria’s former Minister of Environment, spoke to State House Correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, separately, yesterday.

She is leading a delegation of senior officials of the UN to Nigeria and three other West African countries, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Ghana to discuss with the governments and other stakeholders on strategies to rebuild after the devastations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General, also joined Osinbajo to launch the ‘Nigeria UN Plus Offer for Socio-Economic Recovery – 2020 -2022,’ as an offer for immediate and medium-term support to the government and people of Nigeria in response to the socio-economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on the #EndSARS protests, she said: “We did raise while we were with Mr. President the issue around the recent challenges of EndSARS protests that happened in the country. It was of course one that the Secretary General, we all  were alarmed  and of course support the country in trying to get back on track. Young people and their demands for social justice, governance are all legitimate ones and must be done peacefully. But we were all disturbed by the damage level, loss of lives and we continue to condole with those families who suffer those loses.

“Today was one in which we encouraged efforts that are being made by government to that process of engaging with the demands that have been made by young people. It’s a start on that journey of reforms that are needed in the security sector, but also root causes  to issues that are happening today, which is about investing in development.

“We look forward to continuing our partnership with the government of Nigeria. We are happy today to launch the UN Plus Offer, which has to do again with supporting economic sustainability plan over the next two years so that we can respond a little bit better.”

Asked where the UN stood  on the shooting in Lekki, Mohammed said: “The UN stance is clear, like the UN Secretary General had said in his speech, we believe everyone has a right to demonstrate peacefully for those issues they want to raise with their government. There is a social contract in place between the government and the people and it is important to have that freedom of speech provided it is done peacefully.

“I think in the case where we heard that lives and property were lost, it was unfortunate and we believe that in addressing the demands that were made by young people, that in fact perhaps, this is a lesson we can take into the future and how we engage in such issues.

“I have to say that there are lot of protests around this world that has been exacerbated by COVID because, COVID has left people out of work, left people hopeless because of the socio-economic impact. And in many of those protests, we have not seen governments turn around in response as quickly as this government did.