The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has dismissed as false a viral social media video alleging that the institution was involved in developing a nuclear weapon for Nigeria.
The Director of Public Affairs at the university, Auwalu Umar, made this known in a statement issued to journalists on Saturday in Zaria.
Umar described the AI-generated video as misleading and designed to misinform the public about Nigeria’s peaceful nuclear energy programme.
He said the video falsely claimed that Nigerian scientists in the 1980s secretly enriched weapons-grade uranium in Kaduna and that ABU researchers obtained centrifuge equipment from Pakistan’s A.Q. Khan network.
The university spokesperson said the allegations were baseless, unfounded, and unsubstantiated.
According to him, most scientists at ABU’s Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT) were still undergoing training abroad in the 1980s and could not have participated in any uranium enrichment activity.
Umar stressed that ABU had no connection with the A.Q. Khan network and had never received any equipment related to centrifuge construction or nuclear weapons development.
He explained 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, the 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 reaffirmed that Nigeria’s nuclear activities have always been transparent and strictly for peaceful purposes, in line with the country’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Pelindaba Treaty, both of which prohibit the development of nuclear weapons.
“The Centre for Energy Research and Training, established in 1976, operates in collaboration with the IAEA and international partners from the U.S., Russia, and China,” he added.
He further clarified that the Centre has never engaged in any secret weapons programme, noting that ABU remains committed to the peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology for national development.
Umar recalled that ABU’s founder, Sir Ahmadu Bello, had shown early interest in peaceful atomic research following his 1960 visit to the Museum of Atomic Energy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States, two years before the university was established.
“The management reiterates 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,” Umar stated.
