Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has dismissed a viral social media video alleging that the institution was involved in developing a nuclear weapon for Nigeria.
The university’s Director of Public Affairs, Mwalim Auwalu Umar, described the video as “misleading” and “aimed at misinforming the public about Nigeria’s peaceful nuclear energy programme.”
Umar said the video falsely claimed that 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.
He added that the claims were “baseless, unfounded, and unsubstantiated,” and that 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.
“Nigeria’s nuclear activities have 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,” Umar said.
The university reaffirmed its commitment to advancing science and technology for the benefit of humanity and upholding Nigeria’s international obligations on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
