Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has denied a viral claim suggesting it is secretly developing nuclear weapons for Nigeria.
In a statement on Friday, the Director of Public Affairs, Auwalu Umar, described the allegation as baseless and mischievous, saying it was aimed at misleading the public and tarnishing the university’s image.
The viral video had claimed that ABU scientists enriched weapons-grade uranium in the 1980s using centrifuges obtained from Pakistan’s AQ Khan network and were close to producing a nuclear bomb by 1987.
Umar dismissed the claim, saying it was both scientifically and historically false.
“In the 1980s, most of the scientists at the Centre for Energy Research and Training were still studying abroad and had not even returned to Nigeria. So how could trainee scientists have enriched uranium?” he said.
He added that neither ABU nor Nigeria had any link with the AQ Khan network or any country known for nuclear weapons proliferation.
According to him, by 1987, the only facility at the university’s energy research centre was a 14 MeV neutron generator, which began operation in 1988. He explained that Nigeria’s first nuclear research reactor, the Nigeria Research Reactor-1, was not initiated until 1996 under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s programme and was commissioned in 2004.
Umar said ABU’s nuclear research has always been conducted under strict international supervision and in full compliance with global non-proliferation treaties.
He noted that the 34kW Nigeria Research Reactor-1, acquired through an agreement between Nigeria, China, and the IAEA, was converted from highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium in 2018 under the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.
Umar also reminded the public that Nigeria signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 and the Pelindaba Treaty in 2009, which bans nuclear weapons in Africa.
He said the late Premier of Northern Nigeria and founder of ABU, Sir Ahmadu Bello, supported nuclear research for peaceful purposes only, citing his 1960 visit to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States before establishing the university.
“ABU’s Centre for Energy Research and Training was founded to use nuclear science for national growth, not for weapons,” Umar said.
He urged Nigerians to ignore what he described as an AI-generated falsehood and avoid spreading misinformation that could harm national institutions and the country’s global reputation.
