RUSSIA EYES AFRICA!!!
BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU
............................................PUSH FOR NIGERIA TO LAY HOLD FOR AFRICAN MARKET
...........................................JOSTLE WITH CHINA FOR THE LONG TERM
...........................................RUSSIA LAYS SIEGE ON NIGERIA'S NUCLEAR POTENTIAL
...........................................STAKEHOLDERS KICK OVER THIS
..........................................NIGERIA IN $80BILLION CONTROVERSIAL"
RUSSIAN NUKE"DEAL
...........................................INSIDERS INSISTS PUTIN MAY BARTER
"NUKE DEAL"WITH OIL
........................................RUSSIA TO LIKELY SITE MILITARY BASE IN NIGERIA
.........................................NIGERIA'SCHRONIC POOR MAINTENANCE CULTURE MAKES
PROJECT A HIGH RISK AFFAIR
Russia is planning to build at least four very strong nuclear plants in Nigeria over the next few years or so as it is now being said .
At a recent one day workshop titled :connecting local outrage to global campaign against nuclear plants ,The News office Desk of Paedia Express Multimedia Group in Lagos,Nigeria heard first hand from key stakeholders in the civil society genre both at home and abroad how they were opposed to the entire scheme in the first place.
In his speech at the one day event staged by the duo of the Centre for social change and Citizenship Education and the Journalist for sustainable environment ,Senior Director at the Environmental Rights Action ,Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi said while delivering his thought provoking speech to participants at the meeting noted that what readily came to his mind when the issue of nuclear energy was mentioned was radioactivity and its likely problems.
He lamented the fact that governments around the world now used the provisions of clean and god energy a ready- made excuse to invest in nuclear energy.
He lashed out at The Nigerian Federal Government of pushing the nation into what might likely be another case of environmental disaster by going into a nuke deal with Russia without a due consideration and consultation with all vital publics in Nigeria.
According to him based on his knowledge of the Nigerian Society ,he does not think that the nation has the requisite skills to manage a project of that magnitude hence quickly called for the exploration of other alternatives like wind, water, solar, waves amongst others.
He urged the Buhari regime to come out very clean on the project and tell Nigerians all that they needed to know about the 80 billion dollar project and who was paying what and what was in the minute details of the memorandum of understanding of the project as signed by state actors from both Russia and Nigeria.
In his own accounts ,Head Media ,Environmental Rights Action[E.R.A],Mr Phillips Jakpor said that almost next to nothing was known about the project save for the fact that the National Atomic Energy Centre in Abuja, Nigeria was handling the oversight functions in Nigeria.
He lamented that Rosatom,the governmental agency in Russia now a not-for-profit agency already had a baggage of crisis to deal with in Turkey and Hungary .
He assured that though he has heard that NAEC had signed an M.O.U. with Rosatom on May,41st ,2016 for the construction of 4 nuclear plants to be valued at around $80billion,the nation has not fashioned out how it will disperse off the uranium wastes from the plants when fully operational.
He added that both NAEC and Rosatom rather unfortunately never reply to messages sent to them for questioning or enquiries.
Jakpor affirmed that the assertions in several quarters that nuclear energy was clean energy was now being put to test and thoroughly challenged due to the 21st century technological realities .
In a related issue,Madam Iida Simes ,Co Founder,Voima Group of Newspapers in Helsinki,Finland and a major anti-nuclear campaigner globally stated that from what she gathered the project was to be financed by Rosatom ,Russia with this almost certain to lead to the Former Soviet Union providing the security thus making the latter to set up a military base in Nigeria.
Simes speaks:"it is very expensive ,risky,dirty and has to be managed eternally due to the nature of wastes involved"
"many costs like security may not be known as at now but this demands a lot of extra -security and this will be up to the tax payers to deal with as requested by the government"
According to her ,for a nation that is already battling the scourge of terrorism there was a great amount of danger in setting up a nuclear plant in Nigeria as Boko Haram may be eyeing that as well.
While explaining the mechanisms of what occurs inside a nuclear powered plant when fully operational ,Madam Simes assured that nuclear fuel cycle was some form of green energy which when fully synthesized will be put into a reactor and it will become activated to a new factor leading to the usage of plutonium which cannot burn .
Simes insisted that uranium was the only factor that could split in nuclear bomb activation in a chain reaction .
Simes again Continues:"everything that touches the reactors core in a nuclear plant is severely contaminated and the electricity comes from a turbine ,more like a wind mill in operation"
"nuclear power is the most expensive system for boiling water ,nuke power does not work on the electricity it produces and so to operate it then you will need an external power source to operate it and this is what took place in Fukushima in Japan"
"You cannot afford an form of power cuts at all ,in Fukushima ,when the electricity supply coming in into the nuclear plant stopped there was nothing to cool the power plant and this resulted into a huge explosion"
Simes wondered why a nation like Nigeria with a bad history with electricity supply now wants to go into nuclear energy when it will require a 24 hours "non-failing" power grid to do just that.
She added that nuclear power was gradually being phased out for commercial reasons but pointed out that solar power was providing a platform for an alternative.
Stakeholders like Comrade Ayodele Akele ,National Scribe of the National Conscience Party and Dr Tunde Akanni of the Department of Mass Communications of the Lagos State University ,Ojo,Lagos,Nigeria,Mr Wale Adeoye ,all wanted to know why the government was pushing for the project at all cost despite the negatives .
They also pleaded with the press to use the freedom of Information Bill so as to unlock the jam created on the nuclear energy issue.
They also insisted that the voice of the people ,the legislatures at all level ,networking sessions via town hall meetings must be brought to bear on the project.
BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU
............................................PUSH FOR NIGERIA TO LAY HOLD FOR AFRICAN MARKET
...........................................JOSTLE WITH CHINA FOR THE LONG TERM
...........................................RUSSIA LAYS SIEGE ON NIGERIA'S NUCLEAR POTENTIAL
...........................................STAKEHOLDERS KICK OVER THIS
..........................................NIGERIA IN $80BILLION CONTROVERSIAL"
RUSSIAN NUKE"DEAL
...........................................INSIDERS INSISTS PUTIN MAY BARTER
"NUKE DEAL"WITH OIL
........................................RUSSIA TO LIKELY SITE MILITARY BASE IN NIGERIA
.........................................NIGERIA'SCHRONIC POOR MAINTENANCE CULTURE MAKES
PROJECT A HIGH RISK AFFAIR
Russia is planning to build at least four very strong nuclear plants in Nigeria over the next few years or so as it is now being said .
At a recent one day workshop titled :connecting local outrage to global campaign against nuclear plants ,The News office Desk of Paedia Express Multimedia Group in Lagos,Nigeria heard first hand from key stakeholders in the civil society genre both at home and abroad how they were opposed to the entire scheme in the first place.
In his speech at the one day event staged by the duo of the Centre for social change and Citizenship Education and the Journalist for sustainable environment ,Senior Director at the Environmental Rights Action ,Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi said while delivering his thought provoking speech to participants at the meeting noted that what readily came to his mind when the issue of nuclear energy was mentioned was radioactivity and its likely problems.
He lamented the fact that governments around the world now used the provisions of clean and god energy a ready- made excuse to invest in nuclear energy.
He lashed out at The Nigerian Federal Government of pushing the nation into what might likely be another case of environmental disaster by going into a nuke deal with Russia without a due consideration and consultation with all vital publics in Nigeria.
According to him based on his knowledge of the Nigerian Society ,he does not think that the nation has the requisite skills to manage a project of that magnitude hence quickly called for the exploration of other alternatives like wind, water, solar, waves amongst others.
He urged the Buhari regime to come out very clean on the project and tell Nigerians all that they needed to know about the 80 billion dollar project and who was paying what and what was in the minute details of the memorandum of understanding of the project as signed by state actors from both Russia and Nigeria.
In his own accounts ,Head Media ,Environmental Rights Action[E.R.A],Mr Phillips Jakpor said that almost next to nothing was known about the project save for the fact that the National Atomic Energy Centre in Abuja, Nigeria was handling the oversight functions in Nigeria.
He lamented that Rosatom,the governmental agency in Russia now a not-for-profit agency already had a baggage of crisis to deal with in Turkey and Hungary .
He assured that though he has heard that NAEC had signed an M.O.U. with Rosatom on May,41st ,2016 for the construction of 4 nuclear plants to be valued at around $80billion,the nation has not fashioned out how it will disperse off the uranium wastes from the plants when fully operational.
He added that both NAEC and Rosatom rather unfortunately never reply to messages sent to them for questioning or enquiries.
Jakpor affirmed that the assertions in several quarters that nuclear energy was clean energy was now being put to test and thoroughly challenged due to the 21st century technological realities .
In a related issue,Madam Iida Simes ,Co Founder,Voima Group of Newspapers in Helsinki,Finland and a major anti-nuclear campaigner globally stated that from what she gathered the project was to be financed by Rosatom ,Russia with this almost certain to lead to the Former Soviet Union providing the security thus making the latter to set up a military base in Nigeria.
Simes speaks:"it is very expensive ,risky,dirty and has to be managed eternally due to the nature of wastes involved"
"many costs like security may not be known as at now but this demands a lot of extra -security and this will be up to the tax payers to deal with as requested by the government"
According to her ,for a nation that is already battling the scourge of terrorism there was a great amount of danger in setting up a nuclear plant in Nigeria as Boko Haram may be eyeing that as well.
While explaining the mechanisms of what occurs inside a nuclear powered plant when fully operational ,Madam Simes assured that nuclear fuel cycle was some form of green energy which when fully synthesized will be put into a reactor and it will become activated to a new factor leading to the usage of plutonium which cannot burn .
Simes insisted that uranium was the only factor that could split in nuclear bomb activation in a chain reaction .
Simes again Continues:"everything that touches the reactors core in a nuclear plant is severely contaminated and the electricity comes from a turbine ,more like a wind mill in operation"
"nuclear power is the most expensive system for boiling water ,nuke power does not work on the electricity it produces and so to operate it then you will need an external power source to operate it and this is what took place in Fukushima in Japan"
"You cannot afford an form of power cuts at all ,in Fukushima ,when the electricity supply coming in into the nuclear plant stopped there was nothing to cool the power plant and this resulted into a huge explosion"
Simes wondered why a nation like Nigeria with a bad history with electricity supply now wants to go into nuclear energy when it will require a 24 hours "non-failing" power grid to do just that.
She added that nuclear power was gradually being phased out for commercial reasons but pointed out that solar power was providing a platform for an alternative.
Stakeholders like Comrade Ayodele Akele ,National Scribe of the National Conscience Party and Dr Tunde Akanni of the Department of Mass Communications of the Lagos State University ,Ojo,Lagos,Nigeria,Mr Wale Adeoye ,all wanted to know why the government was pushing for the project at all cost despite the negatives .
They also pleaded with the press to use the freedom of Information Bill so as to unlock the jam created on the nuclear energy issue.
They also insisted that the voice of the people ,the legislatures at all level ,networking sessions via town hall meetings must be brought to bear on the project.
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