The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria has advocated for more investment in education at national and sub-national levels to harness the potentials in nuclear science to agriculture, medicine and other aspects of human endeavour.
Professor Kabiru Bala, the Vice-Chancellor of ABU, made the appeal on Friday in Zaria during the 16th Annual General Assembly and other homecoming event 2023, organised by the ABU Alumni Association.
Bala said ABU was the only university in Nigeria to have a nuclear reactor which was reduced from high enriched core to low enriched core (a research reactor).
He lamented that the best brains in ABU on nuclear science were running abroad and making their contributions elsewhere; “while those countries grow, we go down,” he noted.
He pleaded with the government and other key stakeholders to look at the imperative of more investment in education from local level to federal level.
The vice-chancellor said ABU and a few other universities who were offering courses in nuclear science or relevant areas had a meeting with the International Atomic Energy Association.
“The meeting was to discuss the application of nuclear science and its development in all aspects of human endeavours in Africa.
“The International Atomic Energy Association where it was discovered that by the association and International Atomic Energy Agency discovered that the application of nuclear science in Africa was very low.
“When we start discussing nuclear, people must think about bombs, but nuclear science has gone far ahead of bombs. It is applied in agriculture, medicine and all other aspects of human endeavour,’’ he said.
The vice-chancellor said if the country wants to have a sustainable power and use fossil fuel, nuclear power is the next power alternative.
According to Bala, there are modular systems which can generate small amounts of energy over time to reduce the risk of nuclear accidents and universities elsewhere are building modular nuclear reactors, hence the imperative of investment in education.
He noted that it was a turning point for education in Nigeria and education should be at the forefront of everything.
“Governments in the third world were in the industrial revolution, it is a high-tech age, unless and until we are able to give education the needed attention then there is a problem,” he asserted.
He therefore, appealed for quantum of additional investment in education to enable Nigeria achieve the feat in other climes.
Earlier, the Chairman of the LOC, Alhaji Ahmed Jumare, said the annual general assembly was to celebrate the bond that binds the members together as graduates of ABU.
Jumare added that the assembly has events, discussions and activities that would allow members to reconnect and discuss the future of the association and the institution.
He added that the theme of the event; “Positioning Nigerian students for tertiary education loan scheme’’, was the subject of utmost importance to the landscape of higher education in Nigeria.
He said the pursuit of higher education should not be hindered by financial constraints and the students’ loan scheme offers a potential solution to the challenge.
Jumare said the assembly hopes to offer a meaningful dialogue on how to foster the scheme.
