Akwa Ibom leaders reject plan to build nuclear plant in the state via Premium Times

Akwa Ibom State leaders have once again rejected a federal government proposal to build a nuclear plant in the state.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, remains plagued by perennial shortage of electricity.
Two proposed nuclear plants, conceived by the former Goodluck Jonathan administration, will generate over 1,200megawatts, the chairman, Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, Erapamo Osaisai, said.
The proposed sites for the nuclear plants are Akwa Ibom State and Kogi State.
“Our nuclear power plants are huge machines. And what we are planning is, each of the power plants will be generating power in excess of 1,200 megawatts,” Mr. Osaisai told journalists recently at State House, Abuja, where he went to submit a report of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the development of nuclear power in Nigeria to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“We are a member of the IAEA and our responsibility as a country is to utilise nuclear power in the safest way possible.
“And what Nigeria is doing, as we can tell, is diversifying our energy generation base beyond gas and hydro to include other sources for which nuclear is also being considered,” Mr. Osaisai said.
But the people of Akwa Ibom are not buying any of the nuclear plan in the state, and have continued to kick against the proposal since it became public.
“We reject anything that is not in the interest of our state and our people. We reject the plan to build nuclear plant in Akwa Ibom State,” the president of Akwa Ibom Community, Abuja, Tommy E. Okon said on November 14 in Abuja in his inaugural address as the 14th president of the community.
“We have rejected it before. We are rejecting it now. And we will continue to reject it,” said Mr. Okon who was re-elected for a second term in office as the president of the community.
Mr. Okon’s remark drew applause from the audience which included the commissioner for commerce and industry in Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Enoidem, who represented Governor Udom Emmanuel at the event.
[…]
“If Nigeria cannot take adequate safety pre-caution against chlorine leakage from a simple water treatment plant, how can they handle the safety needs in a complex nuclear plant?” Mr. Okon said, with apparent reference to the July 2015 Chlorine cylinder explosion from a water treatment plant that killed eight people and left 100 others hospitalized in Jos, Plateau State.

[…]

Read more.

This entry was posted in *English and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply