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Nigeria Missing As Africa Agrees Nuclear Energy Is Best Alternative Power Source

Published

2 years ago

July 27, 2023

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Nigeria, the giant of Africa, was conspicuously absent on Thursday, as African leaders gathered in St Petersburg, Russia, to discuss ways nuclear power can help solve the continent’s perennial energy crisis.

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However, representatives of other countries present, unanimously agreed that the continent has a better option in nuclear energy against the prevalent hydro power source, to light up Africa again.

They also agreed that the continent needs regional co-operation to pursue aggressive reformation of their different power sectors with nuclear energy.

The positions were taken at a session: “Nuclear technologies for the development of African continent” at the ongoing Russia-Africa Economic Forum in St Petersburg Russia.

Panelists to the session who reached the conclusion, included Alexey Likhachev, Director General, State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM; Ibrahim Uwizeye, Minister of Hydraulics, Energy and Mining of the Republic of Burundi; Doto Mashaka Biteko, Minister of Minerals of Tanzania.

Others are Zhemu Soda, Minister of Energy and Power Development of Zimbabwe; Amged El-Wakeel, Chairman of the Board, Nuclear Power Plants Authority of Egypt; Fidele Ndahayo, Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda Atomic Energy Board; and Princess Mthombeni, Founder, Africa4Nuclear, Nuclear Communication and Technology Specialist of South Africa.

Asked why Nigeria was not invited to such important discussion, considering the country’s precarious energy situation, organisers of the event said the relevant agencies did not just respond to the call.

The leaders took turns to present their level of power efficiency and X-rayed how nuclear energy can engender wealth creation, energy efficiency, technology sovereignty and advanced medicine.

Egypt, Rwanda

According to El Wakeel, nuclear energy has helped Egypt in many ways including clean water, health, agriculture and electricity even as the country still needs to further advance its economy, using the technology.

For Fidele Ndahayo, Rwanda has almost achieved universal access in electricity, but still needs nuclear energy to sustain their achievement.

“We are almost 70 percent in electricity penetration. However, we are reliant on hydro power and with what we know, hydro is almost unreliable. We need nuclear energy to sustain our efforts for a longer time.

“Besides, small modular technologies are making waves across the world and we want to be there from the inception.

“We are not going to wait for other countries to develop with it while we play catch up later. We want to be there from development stage.

“It has potentials to develop our agriculture, health, education and technology development sectors.”

Tanzania

What excites Biteko of Tanzania is that the country is rich in Uranium which is the conductor of the nuclear energy and the technology will help the country add to its Gross Domestic Product GDP.

“Uranian will foster the increase in our GDP as we want to use technology to add at least 10 percent to GDP. We are inviting everyone who wishes to be part of our growth.

“Secondly, we are thinking of how to use uranium to link our agricultural development, health, education and move our teeming youths out of the labour market and totally improve wealth and general livelihood of the people of Tanzania”, he said.

Burundi

For Ibrahim Uwizeye, “My country, Burundi suffers from huge deficit of electricity. For a country of more than 20 million people, less than 20 percent electricity penetration is not encouraging.

“Hydro power is not being able to produce sufficient megawatts of the power we need. So, we welcome Rosatom to come and invest in our country in this area. Without improving the power generation, we are not going to be able to attract industrialists in our country.

“Besides, like my colleague from Rwanda has said we also need to use it to attack lack of development and wealth creation in our country. But before that, we need to improve generation and that is where we need Rosatom’s nuclear power energy prowess.”

Responding, Likhachev said the issue of intergovernmental cooperation resonates with Russia and the country is willing to help Africa achieve energy sufficiency.

He also promised that wherever Russia enters into agreement in Africa, it will also develop programmes that will lead the country to technology sovereignty.

“Technically, we give every country the opportunity to have high percentage of the participation in what we are doing with them, just to give them technology sovereignty,” he added.

South Africa

But, it was Princess Mthombeni who advised African leaders to shun wrong narratives against nuclear energy and consider it the nerve centre of every development of every country of the world.

“In any industrialised economy, there is always different opinions on development techniques and measures.

“But one clear point to know is that energy remains a focal point and the nucleus of development for countries of the world.

“Russia is offering nuclear power which is fundamental to development in Africa. But, unfortunately, there is a lot of resistance. African leaders should ask why?

“Perhaps many European countries highly involved in hydro power business, using it to drive their agenda of manipulating governments in Africa are weaving up campaigns against what nuclear power can offer.

“This has caused apathy among mainstream media in Africa towards accepting nuclear power.

“So we need an alternative media to counter the narratives and consistently create virile awareness and campaign, if only to help Africa plug into what can unlock wealth creation in their economies,” she advised.
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Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal

Published

18 hours ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he may go to the Middle East at the end of this week as a peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is “very close.”

Trump said during an event at the White House that he would “go to Egypt most likely” but that he would also consider going to war-torn Gaza.

“I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday, actually. And we’ll see, but there is a very good chance. Negotiations are going along very well,” Trump told reporters at the start of the event.

“Our final negotiation, as you know, is with Hamas, and it seems to be going well. So we’ll let you know, if that’s the case, we’ll be leaving probably on Sunday, maybe on Saturday.”

Near the end of the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio unexpectedly entered the room and handed Trump a note.

The US president told reporters the note said that “we’re very close to a deal” and that his presence was needed. “I have to go now to try and solve some problems in the Middle East,” he added.

Hamas and Israeli officials are having indirect talks in Egypt on a 20-point peace proposal unveiled by Trump to end the two-year-old war.

– ‘Very close’ –

Trump said as he began the event that he had come off the phone with officials in the Middle East, where his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner had just joined discussions in Egypt.

“‘Peace for the Middle East,’ that’s a beautiful phrase, and we hope it’s going to come true, but it’s very close, and they’re doing very well,” Trump added.

“We have a great team over there, great negotiators, and they’re, unfortunately, great negotiators on the other side also. But it’s something I think that will happen.”

Asked if he would consider going to Gaza if a deal happens, Trump replied: “I would, yeah. I would. I might do that. I may do that. We haven’t decided exactly.”

Trump said he would insist on the release of hostages held by Hamas before traveling to the region.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said earlier that he had received “encouraging” signs and hailed the support of Trump.

Hamas too expressed “optimism” over the indirect discussions with its foe Israel.

Trump’s plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages held in Gaza, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
AFP

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INTERPOL Arrests Nigerian In Argentina Over Multi-country Romance Scam

Published

1 day ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

A Nigerian national identified as Ikechukwu N. has been arrested in Argentina for allegedly orchestrating multiple online romance scams targeting thousands of victims across several countries, according to a statement released by INTERPOL on Tuesday.

The arrest was made under Operation Jackal, an INTERPOL-led operation focusing on West African organised criminal groups involved in cyber fraud, money laundering, and related transnational crimes.

INTERPOL announced via its official X handle that Ikechukwu’s arrest marked Argentina’s first arrest of a fugitive under a Red Notice who was simultaneously listed in the organisation’s Silver Notice database — a new project aimed at tracing and recovering criminal assets worldwide.

The statement read: “Argentine authorities have captured Nigerian national Ikechukwu N., marking the country’s first arrest of a #RedNotice fugitive who was also the subject of an INTERPOL Silver Notice. The suspect is accused of orchestrating multiple romance scams involving thousands of women, and leading an international cybercrime network.”

INTERPOL added that the arrest was jointly carried out by the Argentine Federal Police and the Airport Security Police, with assistance from the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC), the Federal Intelligence Secretariat (FIS), and INTERPOL Brazil.

The Silver Notice project, piloted in January 2025, enables member countries to share intelligence on the location and recovery of illicitly acquired assets linked to transnational crime.

Although details of the victims and total financial losses remain undisclosed, the operation is part of a broader international crackdown on cyber-enabled fraud schemes traced to West African syndicates.

Nigeria has been a focal point of similar investigations. In December 2024, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced the arrest of 792 suspects — including foreign nationals — linked to a crypto-romance fraud ring operating from Lagos.

The syndicate reportedly targeted victims in the Americas and Europe through social media and messaging platforms, promising relationships and fake investment opportunities before defrauding them.

INTERPOL said further investigations into Ikechukwu’s activities are ongoing, with cooperation expected between Argentine authorities, Nigerian law enforcement, and other international partners involved in Operation Jackal.

Always ask who coin these words, who to benefit from such words

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Eswatini Jails 10 Africans Deported From US

Published

3 days ago

October 6, 2025

Editor

The African kingdom of Eswatini said it received and jailed 10 more deportees from the United States on Monday as part of a US scheme to expel undocumented migrants.

Eswatini took in a first group of five men in July, with Ghana, Rwanda, and South Sudan also accepting US deportees in recent months in a programme criticised by rights groups.

The tiny southern African nation agreed in May to accept up to 160 deportees in exchange for $5.1 million to “build its border and migration management capacity”, according to a deal signed with the United States and seen by AFP.

Its correctional services department said in a statement Monday it “confirms the arrival of ten (10) third country nationals from the United States of America”.

It did not give details but said they had been “securely accommodated in one of the country’s correctional facilities” and the government would “facilitate their orderly repatriation”.

A US-based attorney representing some of the deportees said the new group included “three Vietnamese, one Filipino, one Cambodian”.

The lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, represents two of the Vietnamese nationals who arrived Monday.

“One of my clients … tried to assert a reasonable fear of harm being deported to Eswatini, but ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) ignored him and put him on the plane anyways,” he told AFP.

He also represents a Vietnamese and a Laotian who were part of the first group which also included nationals from Cuba, Jamaica and Yemen.

– ‘Legal black hole’ –

The deal that Eswatini signed with the United States on May 14 says that the US deportees may include third country nationals “with criminal backgrounds and/or who are designated suspected terrorists”.

Washington said the first group of men had been convicted of crimes in the United States, including child rape and murder, but their lawyers told AFP that all five had long finished serving their sentences.

Eswatini jailed them in its maximum security Matsapha Correctional Centre which is notorious for holding political prisoners and for overcrowding.

One of them, a 62-year-old Jamaican who had reportedly completed a sentence for murder in the United States, was sent back to his country around two weeks ago.

Nguyen said Eswatini was a “legal black hole” and the deportees were denied legal counsel.

His two clients had been detained since mid-July without a charge, he said.

“I cannot call them. I cannot email them. I cannot communicate through local counsel because the Eswatini government blocks all attorney access,” he told AFP.

Lawyers and civil society groups in Eswatini have gone to court to challenge the legality of the detentions.

A local lawyer on Friday won a court ruling allowing him to visit the four men still detained, but the government immediately appealed, suspending the ruling.

US President Donald Trump has overseen a drastic expansion of the practice of deporting people to countries other than their nation of origin, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

But rights experts have warned the deportations risk breaking international law by sending people to nations where they face the risk of torture, abduction and other abuses.

Human Rights Watch last month urged African governments to refuse to accept US deportees and to terminate deals already in effect, saying they violated global rights law.

Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland and landlocked by neighbours South Africa and Mozambique, has been led by King Mswati III since 1986 and his government has been accused of human rights violations.