Vice President Kashim Shettima says Nigeria remains committed to the ban on nuclear weapon testing.
He stated this during a meeting at the Presidential Villa with a delegation from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) led by its Executive Secretary, Dr Robert Floyd.
Shettima stated that Nigeria, like many countries in Africa, is facing numerous socio-economic challenges, including poverty and climate change.
According to him, Africa’s priority, at the moment, is to address its existential challenges of poverty and the effects of climate change, not the pursuit of nuclear weapons capability.
“The outcome of any nuclear conflict is never a win-win situation; it is always the opposite. We are fighting poverty; we are fighting a war against the relationship between the economy and ecology in sub-Saharan Africa. We have no business dabbling in anything that has to do with nuclear weapons.
“I want to assure and reiterate our commitment to a comprehensive nuclear test ban, and I want to appreciate your organisation for the extra vigilance you have taken, having 337 stations spread across the world. All seven tests conducted by DPR Korea were detected,” he said.
Shettima commended the CTBTO for also serving civilian purposes such as detecting tsunamis and volcanic seismic activities as well as contributing to the stability of global ecology.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of CTBTO, Dr Floyd, applauded Nigeria’s leadership under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for contributing to the attainment of the global average in the reduction of nuclear testing and establishment of strong norms against it, describing the relationship between the organisation and the country as a natural partnership.
Highlighting the contributions of Nigeria through focal agencies – the Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) and the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), Dr Floyd acknowledged the quality of technical inputs and the commitment by the country in the actualisation of the goals of the CTBTO.
