Buhari Meets UN Deputy Secretary General, Says It’s in Nigerian Youth’s Interest to Maintain Peace

Buhari Meets UN Deputy Secretary General, Says It’s in Nigerian Youth’s Interest to Maintain Peace

By Omololu Ogunmade

It is in the interest of Nigerian youth to allow peace to reign in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari said Monday.

Speaking in the State House while receiving in audience the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Amina Mohammed, Buhari acknowledged that this era belongs to the youth, noting that his own generation is gradually disappearing.

“Our own generation is on the last lap. We are exiting,” Buhari told Mohammed, while responding to the recent #EndSARS protest, and the consequent destruction of public and private property across the country.
According to a statement by his media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, the president said the agitations of the youth had been heard.
He added that he had dispatched a presidential team to engage traditional rulers on the need to appeal to the youth, whose desires, he said, border on job creation and infrastructure development.

“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 (Professor 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,” Buhari said.

Buhari who claimed that the current administration inherited severe infrastructure deficits, added that it is such deficits that his government is “fighting to correct.”
He added: “We can’t just sit, fold our hands, and do nothing. We are doing our best within the limits of resources.”

According to him, COVID-19 has shrunk 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.

The president also spoke on climate change, disclosing that Nigeria was concerned about the recharge of Lake Chad, which he said had great implications on security, irregular migration, and livelihoods.

The statement explained that the Deputy Secretary-General told the president that she was on a courtesy visit to the president with her UN team “to flag interest on challenges that concern the UN, particularly COVID-19, climate change, security, and humanitarian responses to the diverse challenges.”

Related Articles