The Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, has challenged the marginalization of African voices in global nuclear discussions, insisting that the continent must play a meaningful role in debates on nuclear weapons, energy, and international security.
Addressing the Nuclear Discourse
Speaking at a Foreign Policy Lecture Series themed 'Nuclear Weapons: From Instrumentis Belli to Causas Bellorum,' organized by NIIA in Lagos, Osaghae criticized perceptions that nuclear issues are too important to be left to African countries. He argued that Africa has both the right and the responsibility to contribute to decisions affecting global peace and security.
According to him, Africa has been excluded from critical international conversations for too long, even though the continent is affected by the consequences of global conflicts and nuclear-related tensions. He recalled that South Africa, the only African country to have developed nuclear weapons, dismantled its nuclear program during the transition from apartheid, describing this as a significant contribution to global nuclear disarmament efforts.
Preventing Conflict Through Nuclear Strategy
Research Professor at NIIA, Femi Otubanjo, warned that global efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons must not generate the conflicts they are intended to prevent. Drawing on the words of nuclear strategist Bernard Brodie, Otubanjo stated that the primary purpose of military establishments in the nuclear age should be to prevent wars rather than fight them.
“The task before mankind is to ensure that the desire to limit nuclear weapons proliferation does not generate conflicts that may escalate into a nuclear war,” he said, adding that nuclear weapons “must remain latent instruments of war; they must never be allowed to become causes of war.”
