Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has strongly denied viral social media claims suggesting that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons in Nigeria.
The misleading video circulating online alleges that the university is running a covert nuclear weapons project in Kaduna and collaborating with Pakistan’s AQ Khan network to obtain uranium-enrichment equipment.
In a statement obtained by Mediaplusng.com, the Director of the Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT), Professor S. B. Umar, says the claims are false, misleading, and part of an attempt to spread misinformation about Nigeria’s peaceful nuclear programme.
According to Professor Umar, the period mentioned in the viral video — the 1980s — was when most Nigerian nuclear scientists were still receiving training abroad. He explains that ABU had no link whatsoever with the AQ Khan network and never received any centrifuge or weapon-grade equipment.
He adds that the university’s only nuclear equipment at that time was a 14 MeV neutron generator, which became operational in 1988. Nigeria’s first nuclear reactor, NIRR-1, was later built in 1996 under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and commissioned in 2004.
Professor Umar stresses that all of Nigeria’s nuclear activities are transparent and guided by international treaties such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Pelindaba Treaty, both of which ban the development of nuclear weapons.
“The Centre for Energy Research and Training has never engaged in any secret weapons programme,” he says. “ABU’s focus remains on using nuclear science and technology for peaceful research and national development.”
As reported by Mediaplusng.com, Professor Umar also recalls that the university’s founder, Sir Ahmadu Bello, had shown early interest in atomic research for peaceful purposes after visiting the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Museum of Atomic Energy in the United States in 1960 — two years before ABU was founded.
The university management reiterates its commitment to promoting scientific innovation, human progress, and Nigeria’s international obligations toward the safe and peaceful use of nuclear energy.
