Nigeria to sign nuclear deal with Russia

  1. Posted on Tuesday 23 June 2009 - 08:40
    Murtala
    Image of Murtala
    Murtala Kamara Mohammed, AfricaNews reporter in Freetown, Sierra Leone
    Nigeria and the former Soviet State of Russia are to sign nuclear energy cooperation during the visit of Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev to that country on Wednesday for a one day visit. Nigeria's Presidential Spokesman said the nuclear program is for peaceful purpose especially for electricity.
    Ya'Adua
    The Russian President is expected to arrive with a high powered delegation which will include Gasprom Chief Executive Alexie Miller.

    The Russian envoy to Nigeria, Alexander Polyakov told the Nigeria This Day newspaper that the Russian President is visiting Nigeria to honor an invitation which was earlier extended by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua following talks on the sidelines of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized powers in Japan last year.

    Polyakov said "international issues would be on the agenda but primarily, the visit would be about bilateral cooperation. We would like to give a very strong political impetus to our interaction in different fields.”

    He added that "first of all in the area of economy and investment awe would aim to bring the Russian Nigerian partnership to a completely new level. Maybe it can be in strategic partnership,"

    On his part, Nigeria’s Presidential Spokesman, Olusegun Adeniyi, said the visit of Medveddev will be the first ever visit by the Head of State of the Russian Federation whiles allaying fear that the nuclear program "is for cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy especially for the purpose of electricity especially for the purpose of electricity."

    It could be recalled that Russia and Africa’s most populace nation signed an agreement on March 18 this year to cooperate in building nuclear reactors in the West African country and jointly explore for uranium.

    A Russian nuclear energy agency Rosatom was quoted to have said that the history visit by the Russian President will "foresee the possibility of bilateral cooperation for the development of Nigeria's nuclear infrastructure" and the "joint exploration and exploitation of uranium deposits,"

    The G8 which comprises of the world most powerful nations including Russia, UK, France and Italy has in the past said that they are uncomfortable with the West African country’s moves to acquire nuclear energy despite the country’s argument that it was meant for peaceful purposes citing security concerns.

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