afrol News, 25 July - Nigerian President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, is convinced that time is ripe for his country to develop turn to nuclear power development to generate electricity.

President Yar’Adua made the disclosure to the media few minutes after he had been briefed by the Director General of the National Atomic Energy Commission, Dr Erepamo Osaisai, on the National Programme for the Deployment of Nuclear Energy for Electricity generation in Nigeria in Abuja.

Nigerian leader is in a haste to realise the dream which is why he had instructed the Ministry of Science and Technology to bring into line proposals of the national programme for the deployment of nuclear power for electricity generation with the overall national policy on power.

“We need to develop the capacity to utilise nuclear power for power generation. Who knows, nuclear power may be the only source of energy in the future, and we must think of the future,” he said, stressing that the work of the Energy Commission should be aligned with the national power policy, taking cognisance of other sources of energy generation such as oil, gas, hydro, wind and solar.”

The nuclear power generation is expected to cost Nigeria billions of naira. Being the 5th oil producer nation in the world, Nigeria has the funds to sponsor such a huge project. President Yar’Adua has ordered the ministry responsible for the science and technology to scrutinise the project in totality - its regulatory framework, options of funding, among others.

The Director General of Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Professor Shamsudeen Elegaba, said nuclear power is no longer an option but a necessity to support Nigeria’s energy generation.

At present, Nigeria generates on 3,000 megawatts of power, which falls far short of its required needs. And according to Professor Elegaba, Nigeria needs to generate 30,000 megawatts of electricity if it wants to realise the goals of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

In 2005, the world became concerned about reports that Nigeria was interested in becoming a nuclear power, prompting a visit by the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who rubbished the claims.

Mr Obasanjo told Mohamed El-Baradei that his country was interested in atomic energy for peaceful uses, but has no ambition to become a nuclear power.

"Our desire is to use all available sources of power for the improvement of the lives of Nigerians through the development of health facilities, effective and efficient water management, agriculture and other peaceful purposes," Obasanjo said.

Nigeria inaugurated its first nuclear research reactor in the north-central city of Zaire in September last year. This facility was donated to Nigeria by the IAEA.

In February 2004, a statement from the Nigerian Defense Ministry that the country had discussed acquiring nuclear power from Pakistan also caught the world's attention. But Nigerian officials later issued a clarification that the statement was a "typographical error" and should be ignored.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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