Nigeria: Nuclear Agencies in 'Nuclear War'

By Fidelis Mac-Leva

The Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) is responsible for the planning, development and implementation of the National Nuclear Programme while the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) is entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that the programme operate within legal limits of safety, security and safeguards in conformity with international guidelines and statutes.

In the same vein, the Nigerian Atomic Energy Act charges the Commission (NAEC) with the responsibility of promotion and development of atomic energy and all matters relating to its peaceful uses while the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act charges the NNRA with the responsibility of nuclear safety and radiological protection regulation in the country.

But even as the two bodies have continued to assure Nigerians and the international community of their desire to deploy atomic energy for peaceful purposes, peace seems to have eluded the two agencies in the march towards the implementation of the national nuclear power project.

The bone of contention is a proposed bill initiated by the NNRA for an Act to repeal the existing Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act No. 19 of 1995, enact the Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards Act and re-establish the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

The NAEC is vehemently opposed to the draft bill which has been forwarded to the National Assembly for passage into law. In a submission presented to the joint House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources and Science and Technology, during a public hearing on the controversial draft bill at the House in Abuja recently, NAEC accused NNRA of ascribing to itself the functions of other statutory nuclear agencies in the nuclear power project.

Director General of NAEC Dr. Erepamo Osaisai in a submission said the NNRA draft Bill attributes to the regulatory agency, powers beyond its mandate in the implementation of the national nuclear power programme.

Citing the relevant sections of the draft bill to which he said NAEC was opposed to, Osaisai requested the National Assembly to stand down hearing on the controversial draft bill and convene a meeting of relevant stakeholders to review it to ensure that its provisions conform to the regulatory responsibilities of NNRA, and remove all conflicts with existing legislations.

"The management of the implementation of a country's atomic energy programme is a sensitive assignment with strategic implications. It is therefore desirable that the leadership of the various stakeholder institutions in the sector be made to fully understand the seriousness of this responsibility," Osaisai stated.

On its part, the NNRA insisted that the proposed bill was in good faith and that it was prepared in wide consultations with the various stakeholders in the sector. Dr. Shamsudeen Elegba, Director General of NNRA, said the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act No. 19 of 1995, was no longer consistent with the current realities in the nuclear sector hence the need to enact the Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards Act and re-establish the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

He accused NAEC of casting aspersions on the NNRA over the proposed Act.

Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources, Bassey O. Otu, who presided over the public hearing, asked the feuding nuclear agencies to sheath their swords and resolve the matter amicably.

But with this 'nuclear war' by these agencies responsible for promoting and regulating on the success of the programme, analysts are exercising fears over the successful implementation of the programme.

Original Source:
Original date published: 22 July 2010

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