By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has expressed willingness to collaborate with Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, NAEC, to facilitate the establishment of nuclear power plants in the country.

With power generation averaging 5,000 Megawatts for a population of over 230 million people, Chief Adelabu described nuclear energy as the energy of the future for Nigeria.

The Minister stated this in Abuja when the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Engr. Anthony Ekedewa, visited him.

A statement by the Ministry said the collaboration would boost power generation and stabilise the power sector as part of the reforms being undertaken in the sector.

As an advanced level of power generation, the Minister said the country would benefit significantly from a nuclear power plant especially, with the technology that will come in as it will make power generation less cumbersome.

He said the participation of the commission in the power sector was long overdue and promised to work with the agency.

Adelabu however advised against the proposed establishment of four power plants with capacity to generate 1200 MW each, by the Commission, explaining that modular nuclear reactor is the way to go especially with the way the government has decentralised the sector.

“This is an area that States can benefit from. A lot of investment has gone into the development of the commission over the years and Nigeria should start reaping from the investment”.

According to him, although the process is tedious and costly, the outcome is more beneficial to the country adding that nuclear power plant is an advanced stage of energy generation.

“I wish we are there already in this country, but we are not there yet. We should however ask ourselves, how much of the conventional source of energy have we exploited? Nuclear power plant tends to be at the lower end of concern over the years, but we have to understand that nuclear energy is the future of energy generation”, he added.
Earlier, Ekedawa briefed the Minister on the activities of the commission, which he said was established in 1976, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a military head of state. He said, as a renewable energy, nuclear energy could power the entire country. He said the Commission is proposing the establishment of nuclear power plants with the capacity to generate about 1200MW.

“We want to work and partner with you in the area of power generation. We can be a base load for the country and we have two possible sites, Geregu in Kogi State and Idu in Akwa Ibom State. We have carried out the feasibility studies. This collaboration is part of our energy policy, but we are however limited by resources to undertake this project”, Ekedewa said.