TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari will depart Abuja for Washington DC, capital of the US, on Wednesday, ahead of the 4th nuclear security summit, which opens on Thursday.

Femi Adesina, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, disclosed this in a statement, saying the president will hold bilateral meetings with other participating heads of government and high-ranking government officials of the US.

“At the plenary sessions of the summit which is dedicated to reinforcing international commitment to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, President Buhari will insist that while Nigeria will continue to sustain that commitment, world powers must respect the right of other countries to the peaceful use of nuclear energy for development purposes,” the statement read.

“The president will reaffirm Nigeria’s stance that international efforts to ensure greater security of nuclear materials should maintain a balance between nuclear non-proliferation obligations and the indisputable right of Nigeria and other countries to harness nuclear energy and technology for socio-economic development.

“It will be recalled that at a meeting with him in Abuja earlier this month, President Buhari told the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano that the federal government will welcome greater support from the agency for Nigeria’s aspiration to begin the generation of electricity with nuclear energy.”

The statement said the president will be accompanied Mohammed Abubakar, governor of Bauchi state; Abdulfatah Ahmed, governor of Kwara; Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs; Babagana Monguno, national security adviser; and Lawrence Anikwe Dim, director-general of Nigeria’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency.