The federal government intends partnering with Rosatom to add nuclear energy to Nigeria’s energy mix in bids to address the country’s power challenges.
Speaking to a local publication, The Nation, Rosatom’s central and southern Africa chief executive officer, Dmitry Shornikov, revealed that Nigeria is making steady progress on the matter.
“This is evident by the agreement which the country signed two years ago in relation to this issue. We believe that the federal government’s gesture would culminate in signing more agreements in the immediate future,” said Shornikov.
He added that the agreements would lead to siting of nuclear energy plants and production of electricity in Nigeria. The country is reputed to be the biggest economy in Africa.
Responding to a question about Nigeria’s preparedness to utilize nuclear energy, he underlined that “a whole lot of things must be on the ground before any country can actualize or ‘practicalise’ the use of nuclear energy”.
Shornikov explained: “First, is a well-articulated policy, which spells out the reasons behind the issue of generating nuclear power, the megawatts, which the country intends to generate, the distribution and transmission capacity and others as contained in infrastructural provisions of that country in particular.”
Nuclear energy for growth
According to media, Shornikov indicated that the Nigerian government is in discussions with the Rosatom to establish some grounds for the production of nuclear energy for growth.
“Discussions between Nigerian and the Russian government on the issue have reached an advanced stage and hopefully would lead to success in the long run,” he said.