Nigeria
Nigeria is an example to be followed by other states, as it has adhered to all of the seven key treaties in the legal architecture on disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in addition to being party to a nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ) treaty.
TPNW Status
| TPNW Article 1(1) prohibitions: compliance in 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Develop, produce, manufacture, acquire | Compliant |
| Test | Compliant | |
| Possess or stockpile | Compliant | |
| (b) | Transfer | Compliant |
| (c) | Receive transfer or control | Compliant |
| (d) | Use | Compliant |
| Threaten to use | Compliant | |
| (e) | Assist, encourage or induce | Compliant |
| (f) | Seek or receive assistance | Compliant |
| (g) | Allow stationing, installation, deployment | Compliant |
| TPNW voting and participation | |
|---|---|
| UNGA resolution on TPNW (latest vote) | Voted yes (2024) |
| Participated in 2MSP (2023) | Yes |
| 2MSP delegation size (% women) | 6 (0%) |
| Adoption of TPNW (7 July 2017) | Voted yes |
| Participated in TPNW negotiations (2017) | Yes |
| Negotiation mandate (A/RES/71/258) | Voted yes |
| Other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) treaties | |
|---|---|
| Party to an NWFZ | Yes (Ratified 2001, Pelindaba) |
| Party to the NPT | Yes (Ratified 1968) |
| Ratified the CTBT | Yes (Ratified 2001) |
| Party to the BWC | Yes (Ratified 1973) |
| Party to the CWC | Yes (Ratified 1999) |
| IAEA safeguards and fissile material | |
|---|---|
| Safeguards agreement | Yes (In force 1988) |
| TPNW Art 3(2) deadline | N/A |
| Small Quantities Protocol | No (Rescinded 2012) |
| Additional Protocol | Yes (In force 2007) |
| Enrichment facilities/reprocessing plants | No |
| HEU stocks | Cleared |
| Plutonium stocks | No |
Latest developments
At a high-level UN event to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2024, the Vice-President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, described the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2017 as a ‘welcome development’. He said that Nigeria ‘remains proud to have participated actively in the processes leading to this milestone achievement, as well as being one of the first countries to sign and ratify the Treaty’. He called on all states yet to ratify or accede to the TPNW ‘to do so without further delay’.1
At the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Preparatory Committee session in July 2024, Nigeria expressed its full support for the TPNW, noting that it ‘offers a strong and complementary process in furtherance of the disarmament pathways of the NPT’.2 Nigeria’s decision to ratify the TPNW in 2020 was guided by its ‘principled position on the denuclearisation of the world’, it said.3
In the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, Nigeria reiterated its call for all states ‘yet to accede to the [TPNW] to do so without further delay’, describing the Treaty as ‘a major instrument negotiated to ensure a nuclear-weapon-free world’.4 It commended those states that are already parties to the TPNW.5
Nigeria participated in the African Conference on the Universalisation and Implementation of the TPNW in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in September 2024.6
It was one of the co-sponsors for the 2024 UN General Assembly resolution on the TPNW, which welcomed the Treaty’s entry into force and called upon ‘all States that have not yet done so to sign, ratify, accept, approve or accede to the Treaty at the earliest possible date’.7
Recommendations
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Nigeria should continue to encourage other states to adhere to the TPNW.
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Nigeria should ensure that all the TPNW obligations are implemented domestically, through legal, administrative, and other necessary measures.