Youth minister cautions security operatives

The Minister ofYouth Development and Acting Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, has urged security agents to exercise utmost restraint in the ongoing protests.The minister observed that the excessive use of force by some security agents, which had led to the death of few young Nigerians and caused injuries to some others, was very unfortunate and regrettable.He added that the right to protest was fundamental in a democracy, therefore, policemen and other security agents had a responsibility to protect this right.Mallam Abdullahi, however, said that while democracy allowed such a right, it should be exercised with utmost responsibility.He, therefore, called on the youth to be careful and not allow political opportunists to exploit their genuine grievances to destabilise the country.He said that the government recognised that the youth would be affected by the removal of fuel subsidy and that was why a major component of the Subsidy Re-investments and Empowerment (SURE) programme was targeted at the youth, who would also be represented in the committee set up by the government to manage the programme that was estimated to deliver 370,000 jobs to the youths across the country.He appeals to the youths to give the government a chance while urging them to take full advantage of the provision made for them under the SURE programme.
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