Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, has debunked a social media video alleging that the institution was involved in developing a nuclear weapon for Nigeria.
In a statement issued to newsmen in Zaria, Awwal Umar, Director, University’s Directorate of Public Affairs, described the viral video as misleading, aimed at misinforming the public about Nigeria’s peaceful nuclear energy programme.
The statement said the video falsely claimed that Nigerian scientists in the 1980s secretly enriched weapons-grade uranium in Kaduna and that ABU researchers obtained centrifuge equipment from the AQ Khan network in Pakistan.
Describing the allegations as baseless, the university stressed that most of its scientists at the Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT) were still undergoing training abroad in the 1980s and could not have participated in uranium enrichment.
The statement further noted that the university had no connection with the AQ Khan network and had never received any equipment for the construction of a centrifuge or nuclear device.
It stated that by 1987, the only nuclear facility at the university was a 14 MeV Neutron Generator, which became operational in 1988.
“Nigeria’s first nuclear reactor (NIRR-1) was established much later in 1996 under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Technical Cooperation Programme and commissioned in 2004,” it said.
The statement stressed that Nigeria’s nuclear activities had always been open and pursued strictly for peaceful purposes, in line with the country’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Pelindaba Treaty, which prohibit the development of nuclear weapons.
(Daily Trust)
