[b]Four sites in the northern part of the country and three in the south have been selected tentatively as locations for the nuclear power stations through which the Federal Government hopes to generate electricity.

Speaking at the end of the review workshop/expert mission on the Nigerian National Nuclear Power Programme by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Director-General, Nigeria Atomic Energy Agency, Dr. Erepamo Osaisai, explained that the sites were currently undergoing evaluation and characterisation, adding that there was the need to do further work.

Although he refused to disclose the particular towns where the nuclear facilities would be sited, Osaisai admitted that a lot of technical work needed to be done, adding that the legal framework had been developed and improved upon.

Meanwhile, a senior official of IAEA, Mr. Ian Facer, who participated in the workshop, noted that building a nuclear power programme required a three-phase approach, saying that Nigeria was in the first phase and had satisfied many of the standards for the stage.

He, however, stressed that there were some issues, which needed to be straightened out, particularly the need for efficient collaboration between relevant agencies, particularly NAEC and the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency.

This, he said, was necessary to achieve synergy in action plans and synchronise the timing of the various activities.

He also charged Nigeria to step up communication with the public and other stakeholders in order to communicate the benefits of the project as well as the concomitant risks.

He assured that IAEA would help Nigeria in its quest for electricity generation through nuclear sources, noting however, that the bulk of work would be done in Nigeria by Nigerians.

A copy of the communiqué issued at the end of the workshop noted, that "implementation of a nuclear power programme is an enormous responsibility, which requires high level of coordination with all relevant stakeholders working in tandem to achieve set national objectives. NAEC should strengthen the national coordination and implementation of the nuclear power programme by constituting a more wholesome and operational working group, involving all stakeholders at the senior management level.

"Active participation of all stakeholders in the programme implementation is the key to the success of the programme."

The participants also charged NAEC to encourage the participation of Nigerian professionals, including those in the diaspora in the project, and if possible create appropriate institutional linkages for their effective involvement in the implementation of the nuclear energy programme.

Osaisai assured that the observed lapses in collaboration between agencies were being addressed so as to ensure that Nigeria achieved the objective of generating electricity through nuclear sources.

He said, "You cannot approximate or defer any activity in the nuclear power programme. You must identify and address them. We can address all the issues that have been raised and resolve them in a few months, at most, by the first quarter of 2009 so that we can be on the same page with the IAEA.

The director-general further explained that there were 19 milestones published by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which any country that planned to build nuclear power infrastructure must meet.

According to him, "You need to satisfy them to different degrees at various stages. Nigeria is in the preliminary stage. After the preliminary stage, which is the development of a robust nuclear power programme, you now get on to implement the infrastructure development component, which will enable you to order for a nuclear power plant. You need to have the needed infrastructure in place and the needed manpower. That is what we need to do after the first phase.

"The third phase is where you now engage contractors, vendors and start building the nuclear power plants to generate electricity."[/b]


what happens to the eastern region? is this another project that shows how united nigeria is.
seven(7) sites and non in the east. this must be the latest madness in town.
it is important the big fool in charge do something before he starts another problem in nigeria

Firstly, you don't know where in the south the sites are, we don't even know where the sites are throughout nigeria, the only word you picked up was that they were 3 in the south,4 in the north 

Do you know where they will be in the south, because to me some igbo state (blaaaaah i know this is where you are going) are south of the river can be called south-eastern state but they are mainly to the south of the river!

it's like a sokoto man complaining there's no seaport in his region 

Speaking at the end of the review workshop/expert mission on the Nigerian National Nuclear Power Programme by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Director-General, Nigeria Atomic Energy Agency, Dr. Erepamo Osaisai, explained that the sites were currently undergoing evaluation and characterisation, adding that there was the need to do further work.

this guy sounds like a technocrat not some geopolitical analyst, so you might want to ask him, their reason for choosing the sites or what exactly he meant by 'south'

is Akwa Ibom in the north, south east or west according to this map?
think about it Taraba is in the east

@ POSTER

Wallahi Mumu full NL.

Southeast, South West & South South no be the same South. Abi you want invite nigeria1 to come spoil your thread with satalile image.

Dis Guy,
u said the guy sounds like a technocrat, who is not a technocrat in nigeria?
well not to talk too much, this post will be here till when they will mention their sites.
from the statements, the sites have been choosen already but they have refused to mention them yet so with the mentioning becoming classified, it is obvious nothing good will come out of babylon.
we will wait and see.
if it goes they way i see it, it is going to be another joke of the season.
in a normal situation, the so called experts will mention the sites and allow open criticisms and from there made amends and if possible build on the public opinion but now it has become a secret.
we are waiting.

going nuclear aint cheap and safe like they made u to believe. managin its waste is not an easy task! nigeria has made a lot of mistake, but guess what u cannot afford any marginal mistake with this one. we dnt wana see farrow land in nigeria where pipu had ran away from due to contamination

_{stupid nigerians in power my concern}

chidichris:

this Guy,
u said the guy sounds like a technocrat, who is not a technocrat in nigeria?
well not to talk too much, this post will be here till when they will mention their sites.
from the statements, the sites have been choosen already but they have refused to mention them yet so with the mentioning becoming classified, it is obvious nothing good will come out of babylon.
we will wait and see.
if it goes they way i see it, it is going to be another joke of the season.
[b]in a normal situation, the so called experts will mention the sites and allow open criticisms [/b]and from there made amends and if possible build on the public opinion but now it has become a secret.
we are waiting.

if anything you should be happy its not in your backyard!!

Well he is not a northerner is he?
well this nuclear shizzle is not the average gas or power plant if they decide to keep it classified
i'm not too bothered afterall, 'Elders' and 'Youth leaders' are known to kill themselves knowing full well
the govt has to pay huge compensation for land that has absolutely nothing to do with them-
land that normal is of no use will suddenly be claims as 'our land'

open criticism from who? this is not politics where every nigerian is an expert lets be honest
there are about only 8 nuclear-physicist in nigeria, allowing every Aminu, Kola and Chinedu
to criticize is just distraction and will probably bring fear into the hearts of many illiterates;
the word 'nuclear' alone is dreaded in many developed countries

public opinion-no thanks I don't want rueben Abati's watery jokes. . .

_{lets just focus on the gas plants for goodness sake,this bloody thing is
being constructed to generate only 5ooomw anyway and im sure some foreign countries are
just looking for an outlet to sell us their recycled plants and some grey hairs who have been made redundant!}

the truth of the matter is that everything in nigeria is politicized and nuclea plant is not and will never be an exception to the rule.
nigeria hosting and not hosting under 17 world cup is going through political scrutiny.
education in nigeria is politicised as some parts are considered educationally backward hence the need and ways to balance them.
our roads and and security are politicized such that some parts are better positioned.
please tell me one aspect of nigeria or nigerians that is not enjoying politics.
no matter how technocratic the man is, i know he is not more technocratic than proffessor mourris Iwu who exposed nigerians to an election not worthy to be used as make believe scene in our movie industry.
let this nuclea plant agenda not be nigerian presidency that has continued to be between the two important tribes in nigeria.
that technocratic idiot must learn to give the whole political nuclea plant a second thought.
on my own, it is important the easterners have their own skeletal sites so that even if it is only almunium that is in place, in time of vandalization, we will have what to vandaliaze

Nuclear

omo, make i pack my load comot from Naija first oooooooo