Nigeria Nuclear Safety in Question
The new president of Nigeria is urging the country to embrace nuclear power, although his own nuclear watchdog is struggling to track the radioactive materials already in use here.
"We need to develop the capacity to utilize nuclear power for power generation. Who knows, nuclear power may be the only source of energy in the future, and we must think of the future," President Umaru Yar'Adua said in a speech this week.
Nigeria has frequently said it would like to build a nuclear power plant to address its chronic power shortages, partially caused by poor management and maintenance of its electricity infrastructure. The country is Africa's largest crude producer, but currently imports all its refined oil because its four refineries have been shut down by accidents, broken parts or sabotage.
The petroleum industry is currently the main user of radioactive materials in Nigeria. The materials, used in tools to detect cracks in pipelines or measure exploratory oil wells, have gone missing -- or been stolen -- in the past.
Nigeria also has nuclear materials for research and medical purposes, including in a reactor, that are regularly inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog for the United Nations. The United States signed an accord with Nigeria's nuclear agency in 2005 agreeing to pay for tighter security at sites where radioactive materials are kept.
William Potter, director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, said the radioactive materials used in the construction industry would be of interest to terrorists who might want to construct a "dirty bomb" -- which could spread radiation by a conventional explosion. He added that inadequate regulation of radioactive materials is a global problem, but "even more acute in those countries which lack well-developed nuclear regulatory bodies and material control and accounting practices."
Even in the U.S., Potter said, about one radioactive device a day was "orphaned" or lost track of.
Shamsudeen Elegba, director of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, said in a speech last week that despite upgrading controls designed to halt the illicit trafficking of radioactive materials, "we still have some challenges in the safety and security of radioactive sources."
He said that progress had been made but highlighted the lack of dedicated storage facilities and detection capacity at ports of entry, inadequately trained personnel and inadequate tracking of sources as Nigeria's major challenges.
Before the establishment of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority in 2001, there were no restrictions on the import or export of radioactive materials. The body is still battling to effectively regulate their use and import.
In 2002, two devices used for X-raying oil pipelines for cracks were stolen from the back of a truck in the restive southern Niger Delta, according to news reports at the time.
The devices, which contained radioactive americium-beryllium, were lost in December. But the government did not issue a public warning until two months later, when a delegation from the IAEA arrived to help investigate their disappearance.
The devices were eventually found in a European scrap yard, said an oil worker who was familiar with the investigation. He thought the thieves may have stolen them to sell as scrap.
An IAEA official confirmed the oil worker's account, but agency officials authorized to speak to the media were not immediately available for comment.
The Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority refused to answer questions about individual breaches of security.
The oil worker, who asked not to be named due to company restrictions on speaking to the press, said he was aware of at least one other occasion when radioactive materials went missing but declined to give details due to the sensitive nature of the incident. He did say that to the best of his knowledge, the materials stolen in the second instance had not been recovered.
A private security contractor who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media said that in 2004, radioactive materials had been abandoned on rigs that had come under attack by gunmen. Attacks on the Nigerian oil industry occur several times a week. Over 250 foreigners have been kidnapped in the last two years and a quarter of the country's oil production is currently shut in following a series of bombings by militant groups demanding greater political rights for their impoverished region.
Earlier this year, the government also publicly chastised four oil and oil service companies for moving around radioactive materials without the proper permits. It did not specify what the materials were but americium and cesium are two of the most commonly used by the industry, although usually in relatively small amounts.
The oil worker said that in Nigeria, it was impossible to say which companies used radioactive oil well mapping devices or how many they owned.
The methods for tracking such materials seemed to differ company to company, he said, and if they're lost, nobody cares.
Solving Lagos' Security Problems (This Day)
The concern of an average Lagosian is the insecurity of lives and property in the metropolis, especially with the incessant cases of armed robbery even in broad daylight. One could recall vividly the robbery incidents within the last one month in areas like Maryland, Ikorodu road, Oregun, Ogba, Lagos Island, Iyana Ipaja, Apapa and Surulere during which people were deprived of their belongings including cars, jewelleries, mobile telephone handsets, huge sums of money and other personal effects by the hoodlums.
Rising up to the Herculean task of policing the state, the state police command engaged the men of the underworld in fierce battles during which casualties were recorded and some of the hoodlums apprehended and paraded before newsmen by the Police.
However, the efforts of the police appear not to be good enough even as the Lagos State Government has expressed concern over the rising wave of crime in the metropolis. Governor Babatunde Fashola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), while taking oath of office on May 29, vowed to fight crime headlong.
Less than two weeks of assuming office, Fashola, on June 11, inaugurated a 33-man security committee headed by a former Inspector General of Police; Alhaji Musiliu Smith. Other members of the committee included heads of military formations namely the Army, Navy and the Air Force in Lagos State, State Police Commissioner, state director of security, Comptroller of Immigration, Comptroller of Customs, Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator; Kick Against Indiscipline[KAI] Marshal-General, Community Development Committee Chairman and representative of the state ministry of justice.
The committee which had a three- week period to submit its report, also had its terms of reference to include determining the causes and effects of small arms proliferation in Lagos state proffering solutions to the spate of violent armed robbery attacks on innocent citizens and institutions such as banks, hotels, eradicating the menace of area boy/street urchins in Lagos generally and in particular the Central Business Districts of Lagos and adjoining Ikoyi and Victoria Island; providing cogent solutions to transport insecurity as in the recklessness of motorbike transporters popularly called Okada riders; and such other ancilliary issues as may be necessary to guarantee overall security of lives and property in the state towards increasing the confidence of the entire citizenry of the state The committee which at its inaugural meeting realised the need to co-opt eleven more people who are experienced in safety and security matters as members received total of 30 memoranda that were analysed and considered during the committees six plenary sessions.
At those sessions the committee discussed and harmonised the different opinions and suggestions by members and made recommendations accordingly. Submitting its report to Fashola on July 11, exactly one month after its inauguration, the committee chairman, Smith said his committee carefully considered all aspects of security which he said were quite complex and challenging and that all the terms of reference were thoroughly debated with a view to proffering workable and practical solutions.
The major findings of the committee which were contained in three binded volumes of the report submitted to Fashola, according to Smith, include that the effect of increased criminal and violent activities due to small arms proliferation are many and they impact negatively on every sector of the states socio-economic strata.
The committee also identified proliferation of small arms and other offensive weapons as a major cause of armed robbery and other violent crimes in the metropolis, adding that area boys and street urchins who hang around motor parks, highways, bus stops and other public places purposely to engage in various anti-social or criminal activities including extortion and harassment of the people.
While urging the state government to speedily implement the committees recommendations so as to ensure standard security situation in the state, Smith declared that there are additional issues ancilliary to the general and specific purposes of achieving overall security of lives and property in the state which the committee identified and considered and are contained in the committees report. The report is in three parts namely the main report, the executive summary and memoranda.
In receiving the report, the governor expressed appreciation to the members for a job well done and assured that government would consider the recommendations and take necessary steps towards adequate security of lives and property in the metropolis.
Ironically, weeks after government received the committee’s report, the menace of crime continued unabated in the metropolis. One only hopes that the Fashola-led administration in the state would before long come up with the white paper on the committees report so that the issue of crime would be given a comprehensive and wholesome approach.
Two Arrested for Kidnap Plots (Vanguard)
Two persons including a Police Constable have been arrested by police detectives attached to the Enugu State Police Command for attempting to kidnap foreign nationals in Enugu.
The State Police Commissioner, Mr. Bashiru Azeez, who disclosed this while briefing reporters on the achievements of his command in Enugu yesterday, said that even though his men succeeded in foiling the attempt to kidnap some foreign nationals, they were able to apprehend the suspects who have made confessional statements on their evil mission to Enugu.
According to him, the suspected kidnappers, a middle-aged man and a police constable identified as Francis Ekwenyi, came to Enugu from Port Harcourt with the aim of kidnapping some white men in a bid to make money."On information I dispatched my detectives to monitor and intercept them before the execution of their intention. On their way to Enugu they were intercepted by a team of Anti-Crime Patrol, on searching their vehicle, four AK 47 Riffles were recovered from them," the CP said, adding that the case was still being investigated.
Azeez, who expressed the determination of his command to reduce crime wave in the state, said that necessary security measures that would help reduce crime in the state had been put in place, saying with the decision of the State Government to increase the fleet of police patrol vehicles, criminals would be battled to a standstill.
Governor Sullivan Chime had shortly on assumption of office approved the purchase of 47 patrol vans for the police in demonstration of his government's readiness to combat crime in the state. The vehicles, which have already been procured, would be officially presented to the police command on Monday.
The new Commissioner of Police said that shortly after assumption, he initiated some programmes, which, he said, had made it possible for his men to apprehend some miscreants in parts of the state.
Shell Discovers New Oil (Nigerian Tribune)
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) announced on Thursday a material oil discovery onshore in its Eastern operations.
SPDC said in a statement issued that "An exploration well in Aghata-1X in OML-17 was drilled to a total depth of 4,679 metres. The well encountered some 245 metres of hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs, and production testing at two reservoir levels has been completed. The well has tested up to 5000 barrels of oil per day'.
It said the well had now been completed and hooked up to the nearby Agbada flowstation for further production testing. The company said "Initial production is expected to commence later this year after the completion of the production test, and studies are ongoing for appraisal and full field life-cycle development.
The Managing Director of SPDC and Country Chair Shell Nigeria, Mr. Basil Omiyi, said: "Aghata-1 well is a material exploration success for SPDC and Shell.
It has the potential to immediately increase oil production in the area, and also enable us to find other potential exploration opportunities in similar geological settings. We continue to be proud of the contribution that SPDC is making to the development of oil and gas potential in the Niger Delta, and the contribution this offers to the Federal Government's energy aspirations and the future benefit of the Nigerian people."
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