Nigeria and Russia step up efforts on nuclear energy projects

Nigeria and Russia are accelerating their collaboration on nuclear energy projects, according to Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar. This development comes during Mr Tuggar’s three-day official visit to Moscow.

Tuggar said this in an interview with Sputnik in the course of a three-day working visit to Moscow from March 5–7.

In 2017, Russia entered into an agreement with Nigeria to construct and manage a nuclear power plant, the first of its kind in Africa. The agreement included the establishment of a research centre to accommodate a nuclear research reactor.

The agreement built upon a memorandum of understanding inked the previous year between the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) and Rosatom.

The collaboration aimed to erect four nuclear power plants at a total cost of $20 billion, with a combined capacity of 4,800 megawatts projected by 2035.Top of Form

Nuclear Energy

Mr Tuggar said both countries are actively implementing practical steps and training personnel to expedite the project’s execution.

He said the Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission and Russia’s Rosatom are working together to streamline the process.

• Nigeria is exploring the full potential of nuclear technology, encompassing not just electricity generation but also applications in medicine, agriculture, and industry.

Oil & Gas

Another area of interest for Nigeria is cooperation in the oil and gas industry with Russia, where “the door is always open to Russian businesses, Russian companies that are in the field of hydrocarbons,” Tuggar said.

• The government has taken steps to make the country more investment-friendly, including the recent overhaul of its oil and gas laws.
• The new legislation creates separate regulatory bodies for exploration, transportation, and processing of hydrocarbons, aiming to enhance transparency and attractiveness for potential investors.
• This legal framework aims to unlock the development of Nigeria’s vast gas reserves (estimated at 206 trillion cubic feet), potentially transitioning the country towards gas-based solutions.

“So, what we have done as a government is to have a complete overhaul of our oil and gas laws.

“We have a Petroleum Industry Act that has created an upstream regulator (for search, field exploration, production of hydrocarbons) separate from a midstream (for transportation of hydrocarbons) and downstream regulator (for processing of hydrocarbons and sales), which makes the business opportunities even more attractive,” Tuggar explained.

The passage of this bill will allow for the development of Nigeria’s gas fields, and gas could become a fuel that the country could switch to, as it is “sitting on 206 trillion cubic feet of gas” that it needs to utilise, he said.