Senate wants legislation to boost atomic energy commission

Iyojo Ameh

Stakeholders at a one day Public Hearing on the Nigeria Atomic Energy commission repeal and re-enactment bill have expressed the optimism that the bill when passed and assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari will enhance the performance of the Agency.

The Sponsor of the bill senator Okey Jerv from Benue State, said that the 1976 Act of the Agency is obsolete stressing the need for the Amendment inline with international best practices.

The Senate President Ahmad Lawan represented by Senator Ajayi Borroface said the bill was properly debated on the floor of the Senate, adding that the reason for the Public Hearing was to get divergent views of the Public on the Bill.

However, the Director General of the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority ,Yau Usman Idris Frowned at the attempt by a clause in the bill to empower the Nigerian Energy Regulatory Commission as a regulatory body adding that it would not give a positive signal to the International community.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology Senator Uche Ekwunife, said that the move to repeal and amend the Act was not to negate the use of nuclear power, but to develope a frame work for the application of nuclear Technology in Nigeria.