Nigeria and Nuclear Energy

I have just finished reading a news piece about the concerns of G8 nations over Nigeria's plans to develop nuclear power plants and I thought, sure there is a good reason to be concerned.    I am worried not that Nigeria will be ranked with Iran on the level of world suspicion but I am afraid for Nigerians.

Nigerians need to be protected from themselves.  Nuclear accidents are not a head on collision between two molue buses nor passenger plane crash that we are so used to yet  are unable to muster fruitful search and rescue each time there is a crash.   Nuclear technology requires a lot more commitment.

It takes collective responsibility to manage a nuclear facility.  It takes a responsible security set up to safeguard it.  Do we  have such a police force?  Can someone guarantee that Osama Bin Laden or a rogue businessman cannot buy his way into the plant and collect items for a nuclear weapon?  Can someone guarantee that the facility will be maintained and not left mismanaged like NEPA plants all over the country.  What happens if there is an explosion caused by poor maintenance.

Sure Nigeria needs the facility but I doubt we have the level of responsibility and management needed to keep and operate it safely.   Why don't we look elsewhere, there is solar energy.  There is hydro energy and a lot more we can look into.

Humphrey Nwosu Blew It

I have followed the reports on Humphrey Nwosu's feeble attempt to defend IBB on June 12 and I cannot help but wonder why the electoral commission chairman should be the insider who knows the truth.

Nwosu, to the best of my knowledge, was not a member of the military junta ruling Nigeria at that time.   How then can he convince us that he actually knew what happened?  Or is Nwosu simply a PR mouthpiece for IBB as has been suggested?  I cannot put it beyond that for I have noticed many people who worked for Babangida continue in that capacity, as his "loyal servants" even long after leaving office. 

I could only remember Nwosu as a loquacious university teacher who was appointed to conduct elections for Nigeria.  To his credit, however, goes the widely accepted view that he conducted the freest polls in the country's history.  Also to his credit is the option A4 open voting system, however primitive.  Option A4 did work but the gains of that were obliterated by the annulment and subsequent crises that followed in the Abacha years.

I think people like Nwosu should keep quiet and stop attempting to rewrite history.  Babangida was the president and leader of the military council and the responsibility  of all actions and inactions of that regime and the military junta at the top were ultimately his.  Let him live with that.