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| Africa Subsaharan | |
| Iran offers nuclear aid to Nigeria | |
| 2008-08-30 | |
| ABUJA - Iran is ready to share its nuclear technology with Nigeria to help the energy-starved west African powerhouse boost electricity generation, a senior Iranian official has said. Junior trade minister Mohammadali Zeyghami made the comments in a press conference late Thursday after three days of talks between officials of the two oil-producing nations. Both sides emphasised that any atomic energy deal they would strike would be for civilian purposes only. "Nigeria is never entering into any agreement with Iran for any matter that has to do with weapons," Nigeria's deputy foreign minister Tijjani Kaura said. "There shouldn't be a misunderstanding between exploration or uses of energy to provide power and the uses of energy for weapons," said Kaura, adding that the distinction was necessary "so that our relationship with Iran will not be misconstrued by Nigerians and the entire international community." Zeyghami said: "We not only consider it Iran's inalienable right but also the Nigerians' so that they could use this clean source of energy and nobody can limit the use of knowledge anywhere in the world." Kaura added that Nigeria was seeking cooperation on nuclear energy "in order to move our industrial ambition forward," in an economy whose development has been hamstrung by a lack of adequate electricty supply. Despite huge oil and gas resources, Nigeria's electricity supplies are woefully inadequate due to decades of corruption and infrastructural neglect. Nigeria currently generates 3,300 megawatts of electricity according to officials who claim the country's current demands stand at around 20,000 megawatts.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 3,300 megawatts Holy Shit! For a country of 100 jillion? Hell Crystal River cranks out that much baseload. lawz... dis bad real bad. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-08-30 20:46 |
| #3 And they would treat these shiny new nuke plants exactly the same as all of the rest of their infrastructure. "Visit the new Nigeria! Now with that soft green glow!" |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2008-08-30 12:38 |
| #2 Ah, Nigeria, another bastion of responsible governance. |
| Posted by: Ominemp Henbane2659 2008-08-30 11:54 |
| #1 Nigeria's electricity supplies are woefully inadequate due to decades of corruption and infrastructural neglect. Yet another African anomaly. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-08-30 08:58 |