President Yoweri Museveni is optimistic that Uganda will collaborate with Algeria in the area of nuclear energy

The Ugandan leader was left in awe after visiting the Nuclear Research Center of Algiers on Monday during his 3-day visit to Algeria.

“I congratulate our Algerian brothers & sisters on taking the right steps in the area of Nuclear physics & energy,” Museveni said admiringly.

He explained that nuclear energy helps in the areas of medicine, agriculture, energy & propulsion among other benefits. 

“Uganda already has a nuclear energy unit and we shall collaborate with the Nuclear Research Centre here to agree on specific areas of cooperation,” he said on Monday.

The nuclear energy optimism comes at a time when Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) has signed an MoU with Sonatrach, the State Oil Company of Algeria.

The UNOC-Sonatrach deal will see Uganda work with Algeria on different oil and gas projects including the upcoming oil refinery set for construction in western Uganda.

At a press conference last week, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development announced it will begin construction of the country’s first nuclear facility in Buyende district, eastern Uganda.

For the Buyende Nuclear Power Plant, Uganda, according to reports, will partners with China National Nuclear Corporation which would assist in developing capabilities for the peaceful use of atomic energy.

"Preparation to evaluate the Buyende Nuclear Power Plant site is ongoing to pave the way for the first nuclear power project expected to generate 2,000 MW, with the first 1,000 MW to be connected to the national grid by 2031," Dr Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, the energy minister, said in a statement.

Nankabirwa warned residents of Buyende District against selling their land to speculators who are targeting the 2031 nuclear energy power plant project worth Shs34 trillion.

"I want to call upon our people of Buyende not to rush to sell their land to speculators who would lure you with huge sums of money expecting to get a lot more as compensation from the government,” she said.

Adding: “Remain with your land and government valuers will be used as usual and the rightful owners shall be compensated,"

In December 2021, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) endorsed Uganda’s nuclear energy power plant development following a successful review of the country’s nuclear infrastructure.

President Yoweri Museveni, together with officials from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) led by Dr Ruth Nankabirwa, the minister, witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) and Sonatrach, the State Oil Company of Algeria.

Eng Dr Michael Mugerwa, the General Manager of Uganda Refinery Holding Company, signed the MoU on behalf of Uganda while Sonatrach Chairman & CEO, Toufik Hakkar signed for Algeria.

UNOC said the MoU covers oil and gas cooperation in the Upstream, Midstream (refining and petrochemicals), Downstream, capacity building, and Oil & Gas Services.

The signing ceremony was held at the El Mouradia Presidential Palace in Algiers on Sunday, 12^th March 2023 as one of the many engagements Museveni had in Algeria during a three-day state visit.

Museveni said they looking at Algeria investing in our refinery. “We want to build an inland refinery. It is absolutely necessary because it will cut transport costs seeing that we are far away from the coast,” he said in a brief update conveyed on Twitter.

Uganda has struggled to secure funding for her much-preferred oil refinery set for construction in the Albertine Graben region where some estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude oil were discovered in 2006.

Negotiations with South Korean, Russian and American investors in the past haven’t yielded anything concrete; therefore, the country remains in constant search of a developer to take on the financing of the refinery.  

President Yoweri Museveni has asked Uganda Petroleum Institute – Kigumba (UPIK) to present its full development plan because the government has the money to support it.

The President made the call while commissioning new infrastructure projects undertaken by the institute on Saturday. UPIK, with funding from the World Bank and the government of Uganda, undertook a $32m infrastructure development including staff houses that the president commissioned.

“I really want to tell you that the problem here is bad planning by the overall government structure because this money that we are talking about, the $32 million which has been invested is not such a big amount of money given the importance of Kigumba Petroleum Institute,” the President said.

He said Government should plan well and prioritise investing in lucrative projects that will generate billions of dollars for the country in a few years to come.

“The question is how many oil projects do you have? We have only one in Mwitanzige (Lake Albert) Valley. It's the project we have that will give us billions of dollars in a few years’ time and it needs support of training which we planned Kigumba Institute should provide that,” he added.

“Even if we are to spend $50 million, 60 or even $100 million to make Kigumba Petroleum Institute a world class training centre, we shall do it. We have the money. Yes we have got very many needs, some want money to eat. We can constrain that. We can say stop travelling. Tell the civil servants, the MPs, the politicians to stop travelling abroad; money is being wasted in external travel and here Kigumba is crying for money！

President Museveni also disclosed that it was Uganda under the NRM Government that started the initiative of training people in petroleum in the whole of Africa.

“The people we sent abroad to train in petroleum are the ones who discovered oil here. They came and showed me on the computer. That is how they started now to look for these companies because we didn't have the money to dig but already, we knew the location of the oil,” he said.

“If you have that history of pioneering, let's also pioneer in this Education here by having a world-class petroleum training centre and later alone you can have other aspects of energy like solar and biogas. We can add them later. So, please let us get the full plan. We shall support it because it is unique. You cannot compare it with external travel and allowances inside Uganda. We can freeze all that and have this like we have done for other things.”

The First Lady also Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni， said the Skilling Uganda Strategic Plan aims to skill Ugandans and unlock their potential for productivity.

Since then, the education ministry has been implementing various projects towards the achievement of that goal and interventions within these projects have led to improved infrastructure, systems and processes in the delivery of technical and vocational education training in this country. 

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Sports, Kate Lamaro, said the commissioned facilities were very significant to the government's journey of transforming skills development in the country.

“UPIK is earmarked to be transformed into a Centre of Excellence for oil and gas-related training. This is in line with the Skilling Uganda strategy and plan which strongly advocates for building centres of excellence to supply manpower for specific economic sectors,” Lamaro said.