By Abiola Olawale
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) has denied allegations that it is operating a secret nuclear weapons project for Nigeria.
The institution, one of the nation’s premier research universities, described a viral video promoting the claim as “baseless, mischievous,” and “AI-generated,” designed to misinform the public and tarnish its image.
This comes after a video emerged recently, alleging that Nigerian scientists at ABU’s Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT) secretly enriched weapons-grade uranium in the 1980s.
It further claimed they acquired sophisticated centrifuge equipment from the notorious A.Q. Khan network in Pakistan and were close to developing a nuclear device by 1987.
However, ABU’s Director of Public Affairs, Auwalu Umar, dismissed these claims, stating that most of ABU’s nuclear scientists were still undergoing training abroad during the 1980s.
Umar pointed out that the video falsely claimed Nigerian scientists in the 1980s secretly enriched weapons-grade uranium in Kaduna and that ABU researchers obtained centrifugal equipment from the AQ Khan network in Pakistan.
The director said most of the ABU scientists at the Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT) were still undergoing training abroad as of the 1980s and could not have participated in uranium enrichment.
The director said ABU had no connection with the AQ Khan network and had never received any equipment for the construction of a centrifuge or nuclear device.
He added that by 1987, the only nuclear facility at the university was a 14 MeV neutron generator, which became operational in 1988.
“Nigeria’s first nuclear reactor (NIRR-1) was established much later in 1996 under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Technical Cooperation Programme and commissioned in 2004,” he said.
Umar said Nigeria’s nuclear activities had always been open and pursued strictly for peaceful purposes, in line with the country’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Pelindaba Treaty, which prohibit the development of nuclear weapons.
He reaffirmed that: “The Centre for Energy Research and Training, established in 1976, operates in collaboration with the IAEA and international partners from the US, Russia, and China.
“ABU has always pursued peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology for national development.
“ABU’s founder, Sir Ahmadu Bello, had demonstrated early interest in peaceful atomic research following his visit to the Museum of Atomic Energy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US in 1960, two years before ABU was established.
“The management, therefore, restated its commitment to advancing science and technology for the benefit of humanity and to upholding Nigeria’s international obligations on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”
