ABU's Centre for Energy Research and Training Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has dismissed a viral artificial intelligence–gen...
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| ABU's Centre for Energy Research and Training |
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has dismissed a viral artificial intelligence–generated video alleging that the institution is involved in a secret nuclear weapons project for Nigeria.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the university’s Director of Public Affairs, Auwalu Umar, described the video — which claims that ABU scientists enriched weapons-grade uranium and built centrifuges in the 1980s — as “baseless, mischievous, and fabricated by unscrupulous elements.”
The university said the allegations were “scientifically impossible and historically false,” explaining that most of the scientists at its Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT) were still undergoing training abroad during the 1980s and had not returned to Nigeria until the early 1990s.
“It is therefore impossible for trainee scientists to have enriched uranium,” the statement read, stressing that both Nigeria and ABU have no link whatsoever with the AQ Khan Network of Pakistan, as alleged in the video.
According to the university, the only functional nuclear equipment at the time was a 14 MeV Neutron Generator, which became operational in 1988. The first major nuclear project, the Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1), was initiated in 1996 under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Technical Cooperation Programme and commissioned in 2004.
The statement traced Nigeria’s peaceful nuclear energy programme to the 1960s, noting that the Federal Radiation Protection Service (FRPS) was established at the University of Ibadan to monitor the effects of France’s atomic tests in the Sahara Desert.
ABU added that the Murtala-Obasanjo administration in 1976 designated ABU, Zaria, and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, to spearhead Nigeria’s nuclear programme — strictly for peaceful purposes — in line with the IAEA charter and Nigeria’s commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), signed in 1968.
The university emphasized that all its nuclear research activities have been conducted openly in collaboration with international partners, including the IAEA, the United States, Russia, and China.
“The 34 kW Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) was a product of a tripartite agreement between Nigeria, China, and the IAEA in 2004. Originally operated with Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU), it was converted to Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) in 2018 under the Global Threat Reduction Initiative,” the statement explained.
ABU reaffirmed that Nigeria does not own or operate any uranium enrichment or fuel fabrication facility, insisting that all its nuclear research is aimed at peaceful scientific advancement.
“These activities are consistent with the NPT and the Pelindaba Treaty, which prohibits African nations from developing or hosting nuclear weapons,” it added.
Reiterating the university’s commitment to peaceful innovation, ABU recalled that its founder visited the Museum of Atomic Energy at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States in July 1960, even before the institution was established in 1962, as part of efforts to promote the peaceful use of atomic energy.
“Ahmadu Bello University remains committed to applying nuclear science and technology only for socio-economic development and the advancement of humanity,” the statement concluded.
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