Abuja — The Federal Government has sought the assistance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) towards the development of two 1,000 megawatts (MW) nuclear plants for the generation of electricity in the country.

Minister of Science and Technology, Turner Isoun, who made this disclosure at a dinner Wednesday in honour of the visiting Director General of the IAEA, Mohammed El-Baradei, said the two nuclear power plants would generate 2,000MW of electricity and would serve as Nigeria's baseline electric power on completion.

"I will like to seize this opportunity to seek the assistance and support of the IAEA towards the development of two full scale 1000MW nuclear power plants for the generation of electricity. When completed it will largely serve as the nation's baseline electrical power," Isoun said.

Isoun acknowledged the support of IAEA in Nigeria's utilisation of nuclear technology in various socio-economic programmes in health care delivery, water supply, solid minerals and scientific research.

He said such collaboration recently culminated in the supply and installation of the first ever Nigerian Nuclear Research Reactor at the Centre for Energy Research and Training at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

He assured the IAEA chief of Nigeria's peaceful application of nuclear energy, saying this has already been demonstrated through the ratification of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the full implementation of the additional protocol and the subsidiary arrangements to pave way for the full utilization of the potential of the nuclear reactor and other technologies.

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister Olu Adeniji represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, N.O.U Wadibia-Anyanwu, noted that Nigeria's commitment to the international nuclear safe guards was a measure of her contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security for which the country's foreign policy has remained focused since joining the comity of nations in 1960.

Responding, El-Baradei promised to further increase the level of IAEA manpower training for Nigerians, which in the past had benefited 250 Nigerian officials.

The energy chief also assured the country that the IAEA was attending to some security issues especially with reference to radio-active materials, stressing that the federal government's request to assist in the eradication of tsetse flies and mosquitoes would be given attention along with other requests.