By Leeman Alihaidar
The Vice-chancellor of Ahmadu University, Zaria, Professor Adamu Ahmed, and the Director of the Institution’s Centre for Energy Research and Training, Professor Sunday A. Jonah, have appealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) not to relevant on its support for the Centre.
The Vice-chancellor and the Director who made the calls separately during courtesy call on the Vice- chancellor and working visit to the centre yesterday by two representatives of the nuclear watchdog led by Acting director of the Division for Africa Department of Technical Cooperation, Mr Gashaw Gebeyehu Wolde.
Speaking earlier, the Vice-chancellor who was represented by his deputy in charge of administration, Professor Bello Sabo commended the IAEA for its historic support to three of its units – CERT, NAPRI & ABUTH.
The Vice-chancellor who specifically thanked the nuclear watchdog for its exclusive interest in CERT and for its recent provision of Internet Reactor Laboratory, Nuclear Risk Security Teaching Laboratory, Climate Smart Agriculture and Soil Facility Mapping devices to the centre.
The Vice-chancellor further appealed to the IAEA to continue to support CERT being the only viable centre of its kind in Nigeria that is championing result-oriented nuclear research activities.
Professor Ahmed also thanked the agency for appreciating ABU for its outstanding academic activities, especially in the area of teaching and research.
In his comments, the Director of the centre, Professor Jonah who said the duo of Wolde and the Project Management Officer for Nigeria, Mr Michelle Edward, were on a visit to Nigeria to look at the cooperation between Nigeria and the IAEA with regard to the nuclear Programme in Nigeria.
Professor Jonah said the IAEA representatives were specifically in ABU Zaria where the IAEA is working with three institutions – CERT, National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) and Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Shika (ABUTH).
Professor Jonah said while the visitors were at CERT, they were taken round some of the flagship programmes that we have in collaboration With the IAEA.
He said because the IAEA was the one that installed the centre’s research reactor in 2004, we took them round to show them where the reactor was running on highly enriched uranium until in 2018 when the agency again participated in the conversion of highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium.
He said the IAEA representatives were very impressed with what they saw particularly at different laboratories.
They recommended that CERT should write the IAEA for the provision of additional equipment that will enhance the capacity of our reactor, and all that the centre needs to meet its mandate.
Earlier, the Acting Director commended the University for its academic standing in teaching and research and for its significant contributions to the body of science, an achievement that he said gave ABU an edge over its peers.