A New Nuclear Security Centre for Education and Training in Nigeria

In fulfillment of the commitment of the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan at the Nuclear Security Summit 2012 in Seoul, South Korea, the government of the Federal republic of Nigeria under the aegis of the National Security Adviser in consultation with relevant competent authorities has established a nuclear security centre in Abuja Nigeria for education and training. Hitherto, education and training programs in nuclear energy applications are conducted in the designated university-based Centres of the Nigeria Atomic energy Commission. There are no stand- alone nuclear engineering faculties/departments in the University-based Centres. Instead, the existing curricula in science and engineering faculties/departments are designed with ‘flavour’ of nuclear on the basis of the respective facilities at the Centres. Recently, the Nigeria Atomic Energy commission commenced an education program in nuclear science and engineering aimed at producing requisite human capital for the proposed nuclear power of the country. All these programs currently ongoing do not have curriculum in nuclear security. Therefore, the new Centre, which is still in its infancy will provide educational programs and specific training courses for scientists, technicians and engineers working in stakeholder institutions in the country. Similarly, opportunities will be provided for the training of security agencies, especially frontline officers. In this paper, the functions and responsibilities of the new centre vis-à-vis the enhancement of nuclear security culture are presented.