IAEA APPLAUDS SAFEGUARDS IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA FOR THE FIRST TIME

IAEA APPLAUDS SAFEGUARDS IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA FOR THE FIRST TIME

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is mandated by the United Nations to put in place technical measures on nuclear material and activities to independently verify that they are not misused or diverted from peaceful uses.

Nigeria is a party to the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (INFCIRC358) Additional Protocol (INFCIRC 358 Add_1),Pelindaba treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority [NNRA] is saddleD with the responsibility for safeguard implementation in Nigeria as well as ensuring that Nigeria meets her International and National Safeguards obligation. Thus it provides the IAEA with correct and complete Nuclear Material Accounting (NMA) report and Additional Protocol (AP) declarations in a timely manner .

As part of the Safeguards Activities in Nigeria, the NNRA conducts quarterly domestic inspection to Locations Outside Facilities (LOFs) and to the Nigeria Research Regulator (NiRR-1). This exercise is to ensure that nuclear material are properly accounted for and remain in peaceful uses.

The IAEA, on its parts conducts annual PIV inspections to Nigeria and visits NiRR-1 and other selected LOF’s to verify the correctness and completeness of the Nuclear Material Accounting (NMA) reports submitted to the Agency.

IAEA has for the first time drawn a broader conclusion on Nigeria safeguards activities and implementation .This conclusion was reported in the IAEA safeguards implementation reports for year 2020. Nigeria was identified amongst 133 states that hold, 97% of all nuclear material (by significant quantity) under the Agency’s safeguards in States with a comprehensive safeguards Agreement in force.

The Agency evaluated the results of safeguards activities and all other available safeguards relevant information, and concluded that there was no diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful nuclear activities; and no indication of undeclared nuclear material and activities in the country.

With the aforementioned, Nigeria has successfully fulfilled its safeguards obligation as provided in the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement   (CSA) and Additional protocols (AP).

The recently gazetted ‘’Nigeria Nuclear Safeguards Regulations, 2021 will further strengthen safeguards implementation in Nigeria.