Nuclear test ban: No going back, says VP Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima, on Monday, affirmed Nigeria’s unwavering stance against nuclear weapons testing.

Shettima stated this during a meeting at the Presidential Villa with a delegation from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation, led by its Executive Secretary, Dr Robert Floyd.

Shettima said Nigeria, like many other African nations, is grappling with numerous socio-economic challenges, including widespread poverty and the adverse impacts of climate change.

He stressed that Africa’s immediate priority is to confront these existential threats, not to engage in the pursuit of nuclear weapons capability.

“The outcome of any nuclear conflict is never a win-win situation; it is always the opposite. We are fighting poverty; we are fighting a war against the relationship between the economy and ecology in sub-Saharan Africa. We have no business dabbling in anything that has to do with nuclear weapons,” he said.

Shettima also commended CTBTO for its broader civilian contributions, such as detecting tsunamis and seismic volcanic activity, and for supporting global ecological stability.