Nigeria Matches To Nuclear Club

“After a nuclear war, the survivors will envy the dead,’’ declared Nikita Khruschev, leader of the defunct Soviet Union, at the peak of the famed Cold War, the era of great ideological conflict between the West and East blocs led by the U.S. and the Soviet Union respectively.

The statement, however scary as it sounds, came from a man who was competent to speak on such matters as a major player in world affairs at the height of the nuclear arms race.

Observers say that the Cold War has come and gone but the danger regarding the use of nuclear weapons is far from over.

Since the splitting of the nucleus of the atom in 1939, mankind has been facing the spectre of a nuclear holocaust, which would arise from the use of nuclear weapons by belligerent powers.

As at today, the stockpile of nuclear weapons by the world’s major powers remains frightening, just as their delivery systems are astounding and intimidating, military analysts say.

They contend that the upsurge of terrorism and the increased efforts by more countries to acquire nuclear capability still keep the stakes very high.

Against this backdrop, governments, diplomats, military strategists and political scientists viewed the recent Nuclear Security Summit in the U.S., promoted by U.S. President Barak Obama, with enormous interest.

Nigeria was invited to the summit by the U.S., a move which many observers perceive as the opening up of a new “diplomatic window’’, in the wake of leadership challenges which the country has faced in the last few months.

Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof Joy Ogwu, sees the Nuclear Security Summit as a major step toward attaining the vision of having “a world without nuclear weapons”.

She describes the summit as the beginning of another “global revolution” and a new consensus against the threat to world peace and security by the use of nuclear weapons.

Analysts believe that emerging challenges, arising from conflicts between nations, as well as the resurgence of terrorism, require new and decisive approaches to solve in a world that has transformed into a global village.

According to Ugwu, “the world is shrinking increasingly and what causes one nation to cough, will cause others pneumonia.”

Her sentiment is well grounded because terrorism, for instance, has assumed new and frightening dimensions the world over and efforts to tackle the scourge require new tactics and strategies.

Fears are rife that some terrorist organisations are desperate to acquire nuclear weapons and there is a growing concern that the radical groups may not hesitate to use the “nukes’’ on targets of their choice for any reason whatsoever.

All the 47 leaders who attended the two-day nuclear summit in the U.S. unanimously agreed “to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years”.

The leaders pledged to take decisive actions to prevent terrorist groups from obtaining nuclear materials.

They also resolved to work together to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the hands of “non-state actors’’ in international politics.

They, however, cautioned in their final statement that the need to tighten the world security must not infringe upon the rights of countries to develop and utilise nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

It is instructive to note that Nigeria signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1970.

Since then, Nigeria has never ventured into the development of any nuclear weapon; she is only interested in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy for human development and international cooperation.

X-raying the country’s position, Ugwu says: “It is true that we are not a nuclear power but we are a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. We are even one of the first few to sign.

“We must demonstrate unequivocally that we are a law abiding nation,” she says, adding, however, that “we want to exercise our right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful uses.”

Ugwu expatiates that Nigeria’s efforts to develop nuclear energy has always been guided by the regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), particularly those relating to safeguards in nuclear technology.

On his part, Prof. Babatunde Elegba, the Director-General, Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), says that his agency has conducted studies in the last couple of years on nuclear modular reactor technology.

 “We found the nuclear modular reactor technology suitable and environmental friendly for Nigeria,’’ Elegba says.

Scientists are quick to point out that nuclear energy is not only used for military weapons alone; they stress that it has noble applications in medicine, agriculture and other areas of technology — all to the benefit of mankind.

Elegba, nonetheless, insists that what is important for Nigeria is to ensure that nuclear materials are not diverted for military purposes and that its installations are secured in terms of physical protection and workers’ safety.

Gov. Ikedi Ohakim of Imo recently visited the U.S. and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with some companies in Washington D.C. on the installation of nuclear modular reactors in Imo to generate electricity.

Ohakim, who was on Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s entourage to the nuclear summit, says that the project is aimed at solving the perennial problem of electricity in Imo.

“The good thing about this technology of nuclear modular reactor is that it is a short-term measure that don’t require fuel until after seven years of its use and it can be deployed primarily to energy spots,’’ he says.

All the same, the global concerns about nuclear products are well founded. Some 65 years ago, precisely on Aug. 5 and 6, 1945, the world’s first atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

The mass trail of human and physical destruction arising from the explosions was unrivalled in the annals of warfare.

For Ogwu, the dream to have a world free of nuclear weapons is long overdue “especially after 65 years of the use of the first nuclear bomb and 40 years of the entry into force of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)’’.

Observers note that North Korea and Iran are locked in battle of wits with the West over their efforts to acquire nuclear capability.

The U.S. did not invite the two countries to the summit as they are still facing sanctions for their “intransigence’’ while pursuing their nuclear programmes.

Analysts believe that as Nigeria begins to fill her nuclear space in world politics, she will play salutary and steady roles in efforts to achieve a more peaceful world.

They stress the need for a world where more resources will be devoted to foster development instead of heightening the race for nuclear weaponry

Ohain writes for NAN.

Celsus Ohain