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.
Others at the event were the Senior Special Assistant on National
Assembly Matter to President Muhammadu Buhari, Ita Enang, and the All
Progressives Congress deputy governorship candidate in the state,
Benedict Ukpong.
The member representing Etinan Federal Constituency at the House of
Representatives, Samuel Ikon, and the founder of Bush House, Michael
Bush, were also among the audience.
Mr. Okon later told PREMIUM TIMES that "the risk of our people living
with a nuclear plant in their community is far higher than the
benefits".
He said the likely exposure of the people and the environment to
harmful radioactive materials should discourage the federal government
from going ahead with the plan to build nuclear plants in any part of
the country.
"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.
"The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 should be a lesson for us. Decades
after that incident, thousands of people were still dying of cancer
across Russia and the entire Europe because of radioactive gas.
"If the developed countries of the world could get struck with
terrible nuclear disasters, even with their advanced technology, their
high maintenance culture and safety consciousness, it is only better
for us to imagine what would have happened in Nigeria if we had been
using nuclear energy in this country," Mr. Okon said.
In July, some citizens of the state, including a former military
governor of the state, Idongesit Nkanga, two former senators from the
state, Anietie Okon and Effiong Bob, and a former minister, Nduese
Essien, jointly addressed a press conference in Uyo, the capital of
Akwa Ibom State, where they advised the federal government against
building a nuclear plant in the state.
"This is a country not known for taking environmental impact
assessment seriously; the slightest false-step in the nuclear project
would result in monumental disaster. We do not want that disaster here
in our state. It is one of the strongest reasons why the opposition to
the location of the plant in our state is emphatic and would remain
decisive," Anietie Okon said
SOURCE:PREMIUM TIMES
