The Senate on Tuesday passed for second reading a bill which prescribes a five-year jail term for any importer or exporter of any nuclear material or proscribed substances without a license from the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
The bill however prescribed an option of fine of not less than five million naira for defaulters.
It prescribes a fine of not less than N20m on conviction, in the case of a corporate body.
The proposed legislation is titled,
“A bill for an Act to Repeal the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act 1995 is essentially to regulate nuclear sources of energy in the country.“
It provides that an offending director or officer of the corporate body shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than five years or an option of fine of not less than N5m or to both such fine and imprisonment.
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It also provides that any operator of nuclear installation, who fails to take measures to secure any nuclear material in such a manner as to result in unauthorised access, theft or loss of control of such materials or sources has committed an offence.
It added that any individual, who commit such offence shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not lass than five years or a fine of not less than N10m or both.
It added that a corporate body found culpable would be liable on conviction to a fine of not less than N50m
The Upper Chamber, in the bill, also proposed the re-establishment and composition of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
It proposed that its membership be drawn from relevant ministries, departments and agencies of government.
Sponsor of the bill, Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice, in his lead debate explained that the bill seeks to reestablish an already existing legal framework for the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
He said the bill would expand its mandate to include security and safeguards for the nuclear industry in Nigeria.
He said, “The existing law (Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act no 19 of -1995) is twenty five year old. It has been overtaken by events and developments in the field of nuclear technology.”
