- He stressed that Africa’s focus and priority is to tackle these existential challenges, not to engage in the pursuit of nuclear weapons capability
Vice President Kashim Shettima says Nigeria has no interest in becoming a nation armed with nuclear weapons.
This is even as he stated that Nigeria is vehemently opposed to nuclear weapons testing, noting that the country has more pressing and important matters to attend to.
He spoke during a meeting at the Presidential Villa with a delegation from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation, CTBTO, led by its executive secretary, Dr Robert Floyd.
According to Shettima, Nigeria, like many other African nations, is faced with a plethora of socio-economic problems, including widespread poverty and the adverse impacts of climate change.
He stressed that Africa’s focus and priority is to tackle these existential challenges, not to engage in the pursuit of nuclear weapons capability, adding that nothing good comes out of any nuclear conflict as the result is always catastrophic.
“The outcome of any nuclear conflict is never a win-win situation; it is always the opposite. We are fighting poverty; we are fighting a war against the relationship between the economy and ecology in sub-Saharan Africa. We have no business dabbling in anything that has to do with nuclear weapons,” he said.
The Vice President also commended CTBTO for its broader civilian contributions, such as detecting tsunamis and seismic volcanic activity, and for supporting global ecological stability
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