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ABU dismisses AI-generated video accusing Nigerian scientists of uranium enrichment
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Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria refutes viral claim linking it to nuclear weapons research.
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The institution says the video was AI-generated misinformation targeting Nigeria’s peaceful nuclear programme.
The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has firmly denied allegations that it was involved in developing a nuclear weapon for Nigeria.
The university made this clarification in a statement signed by Malam Auwalu Umar, Director of the Public Affairs Directorate, on Saturday in Zaria.
Umar described the circulating video as AI-generated falsehood designed to mislead the public about Nigeria’s peaceful nuclear energy initiatives.
According to him, the video falsely alleged that Nigerian scientists secretly enriched weapons-grade uranium in Kaduna in the 1980s and that ABU researchers obtained centrifugal equipment from the AQ Khan network in Pakistan.
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He dismissed the allegations as baseless, unverified, and unscientific, stressing that the content was fabricated to cause panic and discredit the country’s energy research institutions.
Umar further explained that most of the scientists at the university’s Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT) were undergoing postgraduate training abroad at the time and could not have participated in any uranium enrichment activities.
“Nigeria’s first nuclear reactor (NIRR-1) was established much later in 1996 under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Technical Cooperation Programme and commissioned in 2004,” he clarified.
The statement reaffirmed Nigeria’s continued commitment to peaceful nuclear energy applications, in line with IAEA guidelines and global non-proliferation treaties.
