Nigeria’s nuclear option for power generation

“They kill people and eat their flesh. The violence there has become something else. It is now cannibalistic. People are running away from that community.”

This quote was neither from a survivor of the Liberian Civil War nor a reporter in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are the words of Andrew-Essien, an engineer Stears Business spoke to about the Oku Iboku community in Akwa Ibom State. 

Oku Iboku is known for two things: an abandoned paper mill worth millions of dollars and violent boundary disputes with the neighbouring Ikot Offiong community.

More recently, the community has gained prominence for another reason. It is one of the ideal sites for a 1,200-megawatt (MW) nuclear power plant which could increase Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity by 10%. The other candidate is Geregu, Kogi State, already home to a gas-powered plant.

Constraints with gas plants

It is not news that Nigeria’s 4,000 MW electricity generation is grossly