Closing Ceremony: From Commitment to Implementation: The Future of Nuclear Energy in Africa

Indiziert: 2026-05-22

[00:08:12]for inviting me. I would say that first of all we must realize that Africa is the future. I think by 2050 our population is set to get to 850 million youths. We must ask ourselves the question how do we tap into the potential of these young people to Africa's clean energy future. Um technical competence without ethical grounding is a liability not an asset especially in the nuclear field where safety is critical, safeguards, robust mechanisms are needed from our end at Young Pug.

[00:08:49]This is something we are already working on through our African atomic policy lab which uh our secretary general alkarin hack talked about a few minutes ago. We are training the next generation of African if they're policy experts. Uh we are not just trading people who have a background in social science but we are trading engineers, physicists, scientists in nuclear nonprololiferation, safety and safeguards, disarmment verification, open source intelligence, research security policy research, diplomacy and tradecraftraft, strategic communications and media advocacy. And uh beyond this theoretical and skills based training, these uh fellows received one-on-one personalized career mentorship and research supervision from distinguished international and African experts from a range of worldclass institutions including Harvard University, Texas&M University, the Oakidge National Laboratory in the US, the Bullet of the Atomic Scientists, uh the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute to name a few. And for me, while this is so profound, this is because as a young leader in the global nuclear policy space, I've been in circles where African perspectives are highly underrepresented. And I must say that I've also been on panels reviewing applications for young Africans to participate in some of these events. But the quality of the applications and the research outputs have been low. As a result, we've had to prioritize non-Africans even if we wanted inclusivity. and we are changing this narrative and I'm glad to be leading it at Pukques. Also to add to that, this year we are training 25 young Africans from over 16 African countries and my goal is that within the next 5 years we would have trained over 500 young Africans through this program. What makes it most remarkable is that we are not just training you to learn and produce research, but you have the opportunity to publish your research with reputable international policy outlets such as the atomic scientists, European leadership network, exig media and a whole lot of them. And the best authors receive cash prizes and the uh top order gets the a fully funded opportunity to present their paper at an international conference. So it is very critical that Africa we begin to think of how we must platform African ideas, African perspectives. And I'm proud to say that at Pugwash, the African Atomic Policy Lab was designed by an African, founded by an African and it is currently being led by an African theme contextualized to the African context and we hope that we continue to deepen our engagement with the African community. Thank you very much.

[00:11:29]>> Thank you. Thank you very much Danielle.

[00:11:31]And I think this framing and the the the efforts have done will last for us with us in the whole conversation today. So I will move with Lynette. Uh Lynette, you have been building this from the ground in Kenya. H I think your personal journey speaks directly to what many people in this room also living right now. So please if you could answer this question from your personal journey, what are biggest barriers young African face when entering nuclear related careers and what has helped you push them through?

[00:12:10]>> Okay, thank you so much uh Safa. First of all, I'd like to thank the NSA 2026 for the invite. It's my first time in Kgali and I'm really enjoying my stay.

[00:12:21]So I'll just talk a little bit about myself. My experience is um I did my undergrad in chemistry. I was lucky to have um a scholarship by the government of Kenya that I did my masters in nuclear science. I later joined the nuclear power energy agency and then I'm currently uh doing my specializing masters in nuclear safeguards at the poly technical de Milano in Italy and beyond that I'm the current president of uh Kenyan young generation in nuclear that aside uh the barriers that most young Africans will face in this room firstly is that our glo our conversations about nuclear are more global than local. So we haven't yet localized the nuclear uh talks whereby we look at what Africa needs because our needs are not similar to the developed countries needs. First of all, we have a rising demand in energy. We have a rising population and we also have urgent needs to have our people connected to the grid leave alone the industrialization needs that we have. So this really makes young people not to know how will they connect their careers to the nuclear which is really an emerging technology at this point.

[00:13:43]Also, as much as we go to school and get to study in our universities, we have a problem with integrating what we're learning with the nuclear landscape because we have labs that are not really well equipped to do the nuclear R&D or even organizations that are not fully nuclear. So what that does is it makes so it's so difficult for students to clearly see where they will fit in the nuclear ecosystem. I'm so happy that this conversation is changing especially with NSA 2026. We've heard that Africa needs to move urgently with within the next five years. We need to strengthen our cooperation. uh we need to build a common t talent pool in Africa where we are able to share expertise, resources, trainings and opportunities. Also, we've now realized that you cannot develop nuclear in silos. We need to come together create these opportunities for each and every one of us so that we move forward quicker. Thank you.

[00:14:52]>> Thank you very much, Lynette. Thank you for giving us the solution and yes your barriers are real and I am confident that a lot of people in this room have been through in the same situation as yours. Uh move to you Abu Bakr. Um Abu Bakr you are leading the continental network which means that the level where the individual stories become systems. I want to push on that with you. As a president of IUIGN Africa, how do you see youth network contributing to a continental nuclear talent pipeline rather than fragment country by country?

[00:15:36]>> Thank you very much Safa for the question.

[00:15:40]Youth are very very important. Uh and that is why especially in uh talent development and everywhere around the globe you find developed countries uh using different strategies to kind of attract uh youth. That's because they are the people that you use when you want to develop a talent. You hardly see uh positions for postocs or PhDs being announced for ages around 40s or 50s or 60s. It is always the youth and the same thing when it comes to jobs especially uh jobs that have to do with tech mostly it is the youth and Africa has an enormous uh pool of that. This tells you that you are very very important.

[00:16:26]Uh another thing is when you talk about uh technical cooperation we as a network have been working together since our early days in this field. Uh what does means for the future is uh when you talk about technical cooperation since we've already worked together and synergize with one another it means in later in the future when we become leaders of this industry on this continent uh internet uh international cooperation will be much easier because uh like we've had in several forums uh it has been mentioned that if you want to go far uh go together if you want to go fast go alo so that we have been developing for for quite some times now and I'm very sure with time it continues to develop and that will be uh something that will definitely help the uh the industry on the continent.

[00:17:21]>> Thank you Abu Baka. Uh I think you provide us with a continental lens on um on your perspective and strategic for IY GN. Thank you. I'm moving now to Asma.

[00:17:34]Uh let's move to Asma. You are member of women in nuclear young generation also h you built something from the scratch green society. Uh let me start with the with you with this question. Networking and visibility are often open doors early in in a career. How can young professionals in nuclear especially women build meaningful international connection from their we are right now?

[00:18:03]>> Okay. Thank you Safa and special thanks for all of you and for N it's my first time to be here uh for networking and fibility uh for career growth there is a lot of things to say but let me simplify it into only three words discover learn lead when you discover yourself know well what is your weakness point and how to turn this weakness point into strength how you can having your skills builds qualification and invest in them.

[00:18:36]That's how you have to uh selfaw awareness and also this self-confidence is the foundation of building a meaningful connection and learning new skills. That's about discover. And when we go to uh the second word which is learn, you have to learn continuously using social media. We spend much time scrolling. What if we have this time management and learn from experts and scrolling and having a new connections with national and international. I have my own methodology which is think globally and act locally. If you start building something you have to start by yourself and then you can lead. I start led green society with only my sister.

[00:19:32]She is a professional visual artist. And from there when we are moving seeing how sea level is rising I say I have to invest my science my educational background to create something for kids to let them know the climate and change consequences and know more about sustainability and also using something very very interesting and to cross boundaries. We using art. We using this coloring book. We creating from scratch to raise awareness and public acceptance not only for the nuclear energy but also for sustainability. We created also from scratch 44 cards. These cards is a board game because now we have to move and interactive learning and using gamification, creativity and innovation.

[00:20:26]We are in the new era of using AI. But it depends on how you can use AI. It depends on also references. If you having an AI tools, you have to check from time to time for references from well trusted websites and knowledge.

[00:20:44]That's we can do it. That's we can build our networking from our colleagues, friends, even family members. We can do it. Thank you.

[00:20:56]Thank you very much Asma and I see you brought you with you your cards and yes uh bringing examples is what push things forward. Thank you Asma. So I may move now to Noble and let's uh start with you Noble that your country Namibia is world top uranium prod producers and yet no nuclear power plant and imports your own electricity.

[00:21:26]That a contrast and a powerful background for your story. So please tell us what inspired your journey into nuclear sector and how did being part of a youth network shape who you are now as a professional.

[00:21:43]>> Um thank you very much Asma.

[00:21:46]Ladies and gentlemen, Africa is is at an inflection point. Africa is pregnant with natural resources. However, the benefits are mostly miscarried.

[00:21:57]We need to speak about ensuring how do we bring back this thing called beneficiation within the African shores. I'm an advocate for ensuring why and how Africa must benefit from hair resources. Long must be the time where we only export. We must start bringing our uh facilities onshore. We must ensure that our people are capacitated and uh upskilled to be able to take over the the the industries. We know that Africa is having problems let's say in the health sector. We have problems in agriculture, water scarcity issues, food security issues. Nuclear comes in here.

[00:22:37]Nuclear science and technology is something that is very very important.

[00:22:40]And as the as my uh moderator said, Namibia is the third largest producer of uranium, the first in Africa. What do we really have to show for that? Quite frankly, if we ask the honest question, what do we have to show for it? we are exporting this resource.

[00:22:56]How do we ensure to change that formula?

[00:22:58]Because in my opinion, that formula is wrong. We cannot be rejoicing for the fact that we are the biggest producer of uranium to what benefit? How do we then ensure that we beneficiate the mineral resources, let's say our uranium within the African shores, within Namibia? So I'm a very uh strong advocate for bringing back um mineral beneficiary within our shores, ensuring that Africans are capacitated, upskilled and partnerships of uh from international partners come on board cuz we need to change this thing where Africans have this mentality of uh negotiating from a position of weakness. We are not weak.

[00:23:35]We need to start to learn our strength and we need to start to dictate our terms and investment must not come at the detriment of the locals. It should be to the benefit of the locals and the benefits to the investors also. So to that I say um when I joined the when I when I founded the young generation in nuclear for Namibia and subsequently joined the African young gen Africa young generation in nuclear and the international youth nuclear congress.

[00:24:05]This entities are very very important because it helps you have uh enhances your v visibility. It enhances your leadership skills and also it's very important because it breaks down these proverbial boundaries that we have set for ourselves as Africans. We are our own worst enemies. People let's say look look at Europe they are having borders but those are basically not borders.

[00:24:28]Africa we are very much about our borders. We need to change that formula.

[00:24:33]Thank you very much.

[00:24:37]Thank you. Thank you Noble. You shared a lot of feelings, emotion. Thank you.

[00:24:43]So I will come back to you Danielle. And uh I want to ask also about your work in global governance. So what lessons from international scientific cooperation can help African youth move from being just observers of the global nuclear governance to active participant in shaping this?

[00:25:06]>> Thank you very much sir.

[00:25:10]This question is close to my heart and I'm going to be very direct.

[00:25:18]During this year's edition of the African Atomic Policy Lab, the chair of the Pwash Council, who's also the co-chair of the German Federation on Scientist, delivered a powerful session, a special dialogue, one-on-one with the African young leaders participating in the fellowship. And in his words, I'm paraphrasing. He said, "You you think you are ignored, but you are not."

[00:25:44]And I want to tell every African youth here.

[00:25:48]Pugash is here to support scientific cooperation in Africa. And we are doing that through the African policy level already.

[00:25:57]Also another dimension to this.

[00:26:03]Some years ago I published a paper on challenging racism and white supremacy in the nuclear field.

[00:26:14]I published a paper alongside some of my colleagues from the global north.

[00:26:19]And one of the core recommendations was that global not countries particularly those who often host international conferences should ease visa processes for young Africans and young people from the global south generally. And I'm proud to say that in recent times I've seen young Africans including those from countries sanctioned by the United States participate at conferences in New York.

[00:26:46]And I must acknowledge the US for that.

[00:26:48]That is beautiful. I encourage every other country represented here that host conferences, please kindly follow suit.

[00:26:58]When we have African voices in the room, African perspectives, a platform Africa's nuclear sector, they build relationships that fosters the ability to negotiate at the table when they become decision makers. For me that was scientific cooperation. And I would also go into another dimension. Now I'm speaking in multiple multiple faces.

[00:27:26]Our voice is our power.

[00:27:29]I have a proposal to the African governments here.

[00:27:33]Over time we've had Africans go to the knots to learn. We've had organizations try to support young Africans to do research as much as they can. But now at NSA 2026, I want to propose that an African nuclear scholars fellowship be established under which young Africans in the nuclear field, scientists, uh, engineers including social scientists are placed in paid salaried positions at reputable institutions across the globe where they conduct scientific research and generate solutions to African and global nuclear challenges. And when they walk alongside experts in the field, they gain direct exposure to the operational policy and research dimensions of the global nuclear sector. Tell me when they come back to Africa, we are building our own sector. And finally, I am going to be a bit vulnerable here at Nexad 2026.

[00:28:37]Part of the outputs, part of the things that we must look up to must include African governments supporting talent retention.

[00:28:49]It's one thing to build capacity through scientific cooperation. It's another to retain the talents that you have built.

[00:28:54]We have so many young Africans going to other countries to work. We need it's time for us to keep them here. And finally, I would say that for me as a young leader at Pugwash, I work on a voluntary basis, but I'm proud to say that I founded the African Atomic Policy Lab, designed and developed the curriculum, recruited faculty from Africa and other countries of the world, and currently implementing the children's cohort. I said it's not to boost. I say because I want African youth to understand that agency does not wait for salary. It starts with an idea and the will to build. Next year I hope that we would have the first cohort of the African Nuclear Scholars Fellowship.

[00:29:41]And I hope that the young minds here we can put our entrepreneurial instincts to work. build something for Africa and hopefully nuclear technology startups that may not build reactors but softwares such as those to track nuclear materials and to enhance safety and monitoring systems in the next 20 years.

[00:29:59]If we do this, Africa can become the hub for nuclear entrepreneurship and Africa's nuclear sector will be booing.

[00:30:05]Thank you very much.

[00:30:09]Thank you very much Danielle and uh I kindly ask the governors in here in this room to listen to him. This is actionable road map actionable road map and to students to write it down. Thank you D Danielle.

[00:30:26]So I will move to Lynette and uh please h I will back to you with something. I want you to provide this room with something more handson uh for the student and tell them what practical steps can student and young professionals take today to position themselves in the sector that is still emerging across much of this continent.

[00:30:52]>> Okay, thank you so much uh Safa again for the chance to answer this. So at KY first of all we work with a lot of students from high schools to universities. We launch nuclear clubs and high schools and also uh launch chapters for KGN in universities. That not that notwithstanding we also do a lot of mentorship and one of the things that we keep on encouraging our students to do is to have a strong foundation in whatever they're majoring in. We've heard here today that uh nuclear is multidisiplinary and that means it's not for scientists and engineers only. It has the social science aspect of it is expecting uh communicators to be in nuclear and because of that you need to really put a strong foundation in your major and also whatever you're majoring in you should be able to intersect it with um emerging technologies. We now have AI, robotics, cyber security and all the advanced digital systems that we are getting.

[00:32:06]Secondly, I'd uh urge students to actively seek opportunities outside classroom. That means coming to NASA 2026. That is one of the steps to ensure that you're not staying in the classroom. Another one is attending webinars, you know, going to more more other conferences other than this. And above all, please join the nice club if you're in Randa or in our other various African countries. We have these chapters where you'll be able to network, increase your visibility, build your confidence in this field. And above all, you'll be able to connect with professionals in in Africa and also globally. So I also encourage you guys to have long-term thinking because nuclear projects are long-term there they are 100 years of preparation and from preparation to com decommissioning.

[00:33:03]So when you look at that you need to start building your mindset in terms of are you building your skills uh okay are you continuously learning and also are you having the practical exposure that you need because every industry needs an X factor and the X factor will be something that will um make you be where you're supposed to be in the years to come and have u a a thinking that you are you are going to be the professionals of our future not only today but the future coming maybe 10 15 20 years you are the people who are needed to um work in these nuclear uh facilities. So ensure that you build your professional skills from now onwards until you get that job. Thank you.

[00:33:54]>> Thank you very much. And I hope our students here and our youth absorbed your advices. They are precious. Thank you. So uh going back to you Abu Bakr and please I want specific um this time with you. I want specific answers. What concrete initiatives in IYN advancing to ensure that young professionals are not only trained but also given real roles in projects and decision making spaces?

[00:34:27]>> Yes, thank you. This is a very important question and uh it's a very uh it's concerning because uh we are talking about jobs now placement and uh as uh pasting experience the very moment I picked interest in nuclear science that was back in high school the first thing my mentors and my parents asked me was what were you going to do after you finished these degrees well I didn't know because at that time I didn't even know about the Nigerian atomic energy commission And I didn't know we had a research reactor in Zarya. I didn't know anything. It was just by faith and I said I maintained my stand and I wanted to do that and they allowed me. So at AYN what we do is of course you know we are not a governmental body. So the highest we do is talk to these uh uh organizations or governmental bodies.

[00:35:21]But then uh we do things like trying to make sure that uh our members uh upgrade their skills because when they upgrade that skills that will put them at the forefront uh in terms of uh uh job opportunities and what have you and how do we do that? Uh recently we sat down and think many people do graduate with PhDs, masters and what have you. But then when it comes to practical skills uh in terms of knowhow uh be it um technical knowhow in terms of deployment be it financial understanding of how business have been done and a lot of things and we decide to uh come up with an initiative which is the nuclear science and technology innovation boot camp. uh that way we intend to bring young people from across the continent to a particular country which has a good technical know of the industry for example South Africa in order to uh get them acclamatized to some of these things is going to be a program of two weeks uh where they learn some of these skills that's another way of doing it another way is uh we we we we encourage members to develop projects and uh we try to identify grants that that we and align those projects with uh it's an initiative we started earlier uh this year and uh so far we have members applied for a particular project and we are on working on another projects we've found uh some grants application and we hope this project will uh be able to be funded by this uh uh grants and then another thing is we find we try to also uh put up some initiatives like the African nuclear future initiative uh this initiative ative may not necessarily provide you with permanent jobs but then we tend to look at fellowships leadership training courses and what have you. What this uh initiatives do is to keep the uh the members busy without thinking we don't have anything to do you know so it keep it makes them uh do something and and and they also learning so whenever the opportunities pop up they're ready and they will just grab them instead of sitting uh uh without doing nothing. And then another thing is also uh we tried to make sure to to encourage them to apply for internships and all that even if they are not being paid just like uh Daniel mentioned he was doing a voluntary role and then on the role he has did so many projects that will make him develop skills and even find opportunities that will probably lead him to jobs and what have you. So these are some of the initiatives we put down.

[00:37:57]I think the last thing we do is trying to uh work with governmental bodies and also especially the IEA to probably look into uh creating some opportunities. For example, I know the United States do other countries do but United States do most the JO program trying to encourage uh governmental bodies to al also follow through that route. It's a program whereby the government pays uh your your job and then you work with the IEA and then probably after three years you'll be released. That could probably give you opportunities for international placements and what have you. So these are some of the few things we tried to put in place. Uh thank you very much Safa for the question.

[00:38:37]>> Thank you Abu Bakr for bringing up all the examples of you the great job you've done and hopefully it will continue in the future in larger scale. So uh I will uh come back to you Noble and um I want to come back to you with a question and this time in your network how can youth networks do a better job of connect connecting students with mentors institutions and international opportunities and what is IYN Namibia doing differently to make that Um, thank you. Uh, before I go there, first of all, I would like to take the opportunity to thank his excellency Paul Gagame and the estate government of RA for for making this possible, the great people at the Ronda Atomic Energy Board, Rura, and also the NASA secretariat. You don't understand how important it is to involve youth from all over all over Africa to summit here. it is very commentable and I'm very grateful for that. So in my opinion it is very very important that we enhance the mentorship uh systems. So as the previous speakers were saying you need to create a relationship of a possible person that you want to mentor you. So create that relationship and get in a situation where you have a mentorship program. So for various YGNs you would basically have a mentorship program uh where you also identify as the YGN who are the key players who are the key stakeholders for uh in in your country. And one thing that I always say is I don't like this thing of borders. So I call it proverbial African borders. So you can identify somebody that is sitting in Zambia, Zimbabwe, uh South Africa, Egypt, Morocco. You don't necessarily have to be just because you're in Namibian, you just want a Namibian mentor. Identify somebody that is outside your country. Identify somebody that is even in Europe, in the Americas, in China, uh so forth. So create strong mentorship programs and then also it is important knowing that most of the YGNs are non-governmental institutions. It is very very important that you create partnerships whether that is now with your BRICS nuclear platform whether that is now with your CNNC whether that is now with your uh local regulators whether that is with your uranium producers your mining experts mining stakeholders um whether that is now let's say with the IEA because you need to have direct communication with the people that are actually making decisions and one thing that I'm imploring the government uh officials that are in this room and people that are in high positions is please break the red tape. Break the red tape and create a situation where you capacitate the young people of your country. You ensure that the young people are able to actually go. We I had a very very strange meeting the other day and it sparked something in my mind. We went to Rura and the way these people are treating the Rwanda young generation in nuclear, it was amazing. They have an open door policy for the young young generation in nuclear of Rwanda. We want more governments to come on board like that. It is important that we break the bottlenecks. It is important that we ensure that the young people I don't like this thing that we are saying the young people are the future. No, we are not the future. We are the current. We are the current and we want to take charge of the future.

[00:42:13]So partnerships are very important um with your various institutions, universities, academia and also ensure that your you are visible. You don't necessarily have to be paid at the beginning. Of course we all like money but at the beginning volunteer if you need to volunteer create mechanisms where your your network has an ability to say for example no uh we are going to send somebody to Ross Atom to go volunteer this time we are going to send somebody to AFCON to go volunteer and then you are creating awareness and you are also creating a let's say an education uh uh corridor that is that is that that that is building synergy within uh within various uh entities and then also Inclusion, inclusion, inclusion. Very, very important. So ladies and gentlemen, and I go back to the officials and the important people. We are all important, but some of you are sitting at the right tables. When you are sitting at the right tables, please ensure that you include a youth. You are having a ministerial meeting. You are talking about the future of your country, but you are not involving the people that are the future of your country. Does it make sense? Make it make sense. involve somebody from your country, a young generation, bring the people on poor um if you're having an IAEA meeting, let there be a young person that is able to uh ensure that the young person's voice and opinion is heard because you know for sure that the young people, our opinions are very very varied and we want things done in a certain way. Now you're making decisions for us for our future without our presence. It does not make sense. Please fix that. And lastly, engagement is very very important. Um, and I would give credit to our president Abu Baka for ensuring that we are always having um continentwide. There's the synergy that is being built and we are ensuring that uh the nations where there are no YGNs are coming on board. So it is important that we ensure we are engaging throughout Africa and not only that we are breaking and ensuring uh closing ourselves as Africa, we want to involve Europe. We want to involve the Americas. We want to involve the Asians.

[00:44:26]So breaking that and engaging. So that is something that is very very important. Thank you very much.

[00:44:31]>> Thank you Noville. Thank you very much.

[00:44:33]I just want to stress on two very important point you provided here. The first one volunteer. Don't wait for for immediate reward. Volunteer. Start by volunteering. And the second thing enlarge your scope.

[00:44:48]Me myself all my mentors are not Egyptian.

[00:44:52]So it's they are from another country.

[00:44:55]So yeah and please gentlemen let me finish with p personal um story um last year at cup 13 uh in Brazil.

[00:45:08]African women delegate came to our booth and she pulled me aside and she said while I I was uh promoting nuclear energy as a a clean source of energy so she said stop don't do that don't promote nuclear energy because we are in Africa are not ready yet for this technology so after this session I think I have answer for her and u I don't So somehow I hope she can hear me. I want to to say no. Africa is ready. Thank you.

[00:46:13]Sappa and the team. And yes indeed, Africa is ready.

[00:46:18]Thank you.

[00:46:20]That was an insightful conversation.

[00:46:24]All right. At this juncture, we're going to hear some more about nuclear. It's a hands-on policy simulation about nuclear decision making under constraints. And to take us through this, join me as I invite on stage Tira Zabu, international business development specialist, Cambridge Atomworks and Aruchi Opara, utility scale battery energy storage expert UK. Let's welcome Chira and Aruchi.

[00:47:22]My name is Aruchi Opara. I am Nigerian and I'm a young professional in the international battery energy storage industry.

[00:47:32]>> Hello, my name is Sher Zerbo and I'm from Bkina Foso and I am working as the business development manager at Cambridge Atomworks which is a nuclear technology company. So last year, Er and I had the absolute pleasure of being a part of the first ever nuclear energy innovation summit for Africa. And since then, we've been working very closely with the Ryab team to strengthen the youth program and to put together a lot of the sessions that you have and will be seeing today.

[00:48:02]So for the young professionals and the university students alone, your day is not over. Over the last few days, we've heard from industry leaders and policy makers and technology innovators about the complexities of implementing nuclear technology across the continent. So, we have prepared a hands-on policy simulation session to take what we've learned and put it into practice. So, after the closing remarks, please all young people stay in the auditorium. We will have ushers with placards numbered 1 to seven who will help break us out into seven different rooms. And then at the end of the day, we have a very special lunch dedicated to the youth only, for the youth only to celebrate the success of this conference. So, thank you everyone for attending. Um, thank you for supporting today's youth session. And to everyone here that's looking forward to a career in Africa's nuclear industry, please remember that this is just the beginning. Thank you.

[00:49:01]>> Thank you.

[00:49:12]You're so good.

[00:55:44]As the MC, I want to hear from you. If you are in the audience, you've not had an opportunity to say something and yet there's one message you want to put across. You don't want to go back with it. Please put up your hand, introduce yourself, then share your thoughts.

[00:56:00]You've been here for 4 days, been here, interacted with people from different countries. You have met your fellows from different countries. Good. I can see a hand up there. Just share your thoughts, how you're feeling, what space you're in, and give us that message you don't want to take back home. Well, the one you want to leave us with. You're definitely taking something back home.

[00:56:22]A quick introduction, then you share with us.

[00:56:26]>> Thank you so much, honorables. Um, leaders in this room. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jamini Ishim. I am a Randan. I was born in 2007. And I want to just first express uh my sincere gratitude uh to the government of Rwanda and being born in Africa that thinks in the system not just thinking about uh the direct superficially so-called ways but in a way that is long-term. I think I am also making enough and great connections which I am also thrilled about. I had a couple of questions uh but still I got some good answers which I think is also crucial to my growth. I am in my gap year um now in the university preparatory program called Bridgewanda Isoma Academy and I currently intern with the IAS refugee impact scholarship. I help in strategic planning and I aspire to uh take my undergraduate courses that involve global governance and public policy. I think I I have learned a lot meeting um meeting different people from Harvard and I think very soon I'm interacting them to get to know uh whatever next step that I can take. I just want to thank um everyone who really made this um event memorable and you know uh brought their efforts towards this. I'm so grateful. And then I had some questions maybe I will get to ask but again uh if if you are interested in things of leadership policy making or in that field I think I would love to make more connections. I'm more open and I'm so happy to be here. Thank you all, >> Benjamin. Thank you.

[00:58:26]Thank you very much, Benjamin. Who else?

[00:58:30]Oh, there's a I can see a hand there.

[00:58:32]Another one up there.

[00:58:44]>> Okay, thank you very much. um by the names of Chappie and I'm from Randa Coding Academy and I study in senior 5. So first we would like to sincerely thank his excellent his excellency Paul Kagami and Minister Paula Ingab for believing in young Randans enough to create Rand coding academic. That investment is the reason we have been able to develop the skills we have today and why we are privileged to be attending a summit hosted by the heads of state. So um as a takeaway um we I was able to learn that as Ronda moves towards SMR deployment in the early 2030s um due to the research I was able to make since attending nuclear energy innovation summit. I learned more about what we are actually aiming to to to achieve. So I was able to notice that nuclear infrastructure will increasingly depend on software digital monitoring and cyber security which are exactly the fields we are training in at rand coding academy. So I had a question that was like um do you see young randon technologies like us um who are training in those exact field contributing to that future and the minister of youth confirmed it saying that yes Randa is involving the youth in every sector that they are advancing. So my question was answered and we are so grateful for the opportunities the randon government has been providing to us. Another takeaway is that um um due to the research I was like inspired to make in this due to this summit I was able to learn that um the IA's vision called atoms for algorithm which describes how AI is already being used inside nuclear programs from predicting where nuclear equipment will fail to optimizing reactor design to running to running safely simulation and even analying surveillance footage for security purpose as render builds its nuclear program. I I want to ask also this question >> as you conclude my friend.

[01:01:07]>> Yeah. Is there a plan to integrate these AI technologies and if so how can young African software engineers like us contribute to that future? Thank you very much.

[01:01:25]Anyone else?

[01:01:31]>> Anyone else? We move away from Let's go that side. There's one up there.

[01:01:51]>> Okay. Um let me first appreciate his excellency and all head of state and the partners who put all this together.

[01:02:01]>> What's your name?

[01:02:02]>> I'll come to it.

[01:02:03]>> Okay. From uh South Sudanh.

[01:02:06]>> Thank you so much for recognizing me.

[01:02:08]>> I'm by my name Kur Peter Thorne. I'm from South Sudan and I'm a nuclear disarmment advocate. I'm part of youth leaders fund for world without nuclear under United Nation office of design affairs one of the first selected uh participant in South Sudan and the reason why I'm here today I don't know is there any South Sudanese official in the room is there anyone is there any South Sudan by the way I hope I'm the only one and that shows that Um and that shows that there's a lot of uh uh we the government or let me say the African nations uh especially the least devolve devolved countries have to participate in the nuclear industry and if I think in the last few days uh I learned few things and one of the uh one of the uh uh the speakers shared few important things. He says if we have to look at the vision the short-term vision of the energy industry if we talked about it the short-term vision five to five years one to five years should be uh renewable uh nonrenewable energy. If it is about 5 to 10 years should be renewable energy which is like solar. If it is 10 to 15 years, we should look around nuclear energy and coming to the contact of South Sudan, we are so far away my dear.

[01:03:48]>> Yeah, we are so far away from that. My question is how can we allow countries that are least devolved like South Sudan to participate in such kind of important discussions because we are left behind given the instability given that the IEA requires a lot of regulatory frameworks and also political instability. How can we young people in South Sudan or least developed countries really engage our government to be more interested in this kind of discussion? Thank you.

[01:04:33]>> Thank you very much to everyone that has uh shared their feedback with us.

[01:04:38]I would love to recognize the presence of honorable minister of infrastructure Ronda Dr. Gasur. Thank you for being here. Visiting Minister from Eswatini and other ministers, we do appreciate you for taking time to be here with us. Now before we get the closing remarks and go into the other activities of the day, I would love to invite you know earlier on Alexis asked the different youth from different countries to stand up and raise their hands for recognition. I want to take it a notch higher and have them on stage but not all of you. We will have a representative from each country present. So I'll name your country then you come through. will give you a microphone. You'll quickly say your name and country and we finish that exercise.

[01:05:29]Nigeria, only one representative, please.

[01:05:34]One representative. So, Nigeria, decide who's coming. Sagal, Ghana, please come on stage. Come on stage. Line up here. I have another exercise that will put you on the spot.

[01:05:46]So, you'll come in handy. Let's appreciate them as they come up.

[01:05:48]Nigeria, Sagal, Ghana, Bkina Faso, uh, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, DRC, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, Morocco, Egypt, South Sudan, Namibia, and Malawi.

[01:06:18]Did I forget a country?

[01:06:20]Came Cameroon, where are you? Come.

[01:06:23]Gabon, please come.

[01:06:27]Where? Liberia. Please come. Liberia.

[01:06:31]Which other country did we forget?

[01:06:37]Bundi. Burundi. Come. Eswatini, please come.

[01:06:41]Yeah. Which other country?

[01:06:44]>> DRC. I mentioned DRC. I just need to have you on stage cuz I mentioned you already. Where are you?

[01:06:51]>> Oh, Egypt is here. Uh-huh.

[01:06:54]I said one per country.

[01:06:58]What? If we have one country represented by five people, we will riot.

[01:07:04]Botswana. Botswana. I forgot. Okay.

[01:07:09]Chad, you see Chad, you're manyho.

[01:07:15]Where are you to go?

[01:07:17]Hey. Hey.

[01:07:19]Mali, where are you?

[01:07:24]You guys are mini.

[01:07:26]>> South Africa. Oh, Amanda. How could I forget South Africa?

[01:07:32]>> Everyone is on stage. Hh.

[01:07:54]Hello.

[01:07:55]>> Oh yes. Good. So the microphone will go around so we can get to see them. I am so happy that they have filled the stage. So you a quick introduction. You say your name and your country.

[01:08:05]>> Thank you. Uh good afternoon. My name is Abdul Razak Bami from Uganda.

[01:08:14]>> Thank you. My name isA.

[01:08:18]I'm from Chad.

[01:08:21]>> Good afternoon everybody. My name is Kak Jang and I'm from Botswana.

[01:08:29]>> Hello everybody. My name is Rachel and I'm from TRC.

[01:08:35]>> Good afternoon everybody. My name is Bavagati from the Kingdom of Esatin.

[01:08:42]>> Hello. Hello. Hello. Asma from Egypt.

[01:08:48]>> Hello everyone. My name is Apong Ian and I'm from Cameroon.

[01:08:54]>> Good afternoon everyone. I'm Brix Tania Frank and I'm from Liberia.

[01:09:02]>> Hello everyone. I'm Hazel from Zimbabwe.

[01:09:08]So good afternoon everyone. My name is Galadima Sylvester Kabusho. I am from Nigeria.

[01:09:16]>> Hello everyone. My name is Johnson Lolono Abusa and I'm from Ghana.

[01:09:23]>> Hello everyone. My name is Meadi from Ethiopia.

[01:09:28]>> Hello everyone. I'm Nvin ASF. I'm from Namibia.

[01:09:34]>> Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Frana Reis Hir and I'm the president of Bwandan Young Generation Nuclear and happy to host as our country is hosting and uh one thing I can't leave the stage without saying is that I really appreciate what NSA did to recognize youth and to have the room for young people. This was the first time and it really means a lot. We are now connecting with all of the people have been connecting online trying to put things together challenged but now we came together. Please please lead us here let this be more and much more.

[01:10:14]Thank you our wonder.

[01:10:19]Good afternoon everyone. My name is Rambakilo Mora. I'm from Tanzania the land of peace.

[01:10:29]Hello.

[01:10:31]>> Great. Thank you. Uh I'm called Bonavant Jani and I'm really happy to be here to learn from uh part East from the Republic the Democratic Republic of Congo.

[01:10:50]Hello everyone. Uh so I'm going to make a little precision because there are two congos. Uh we are Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo. So I'm Dr. Rasa Mubaku. I'm the president of Congalles young generation nuclear from Republic of Congo.

[01:11:16]Hello everyone. I'm Alisa Nikesa from Rwanda. I'm a member of GCI Ronda.

[01:11:24]I'm standing for GCI Ronda Junior Chamber International. I'm really happy to be here. It was really I don't know how to say it but thank you so much.

[01:11:37]Hello everyone. My name is Mariam from Morocco representing Moroccan young generation in nuclear. Uh thank you NASA for bringing African youth unique clear and for facilitating our presence.

[01:11:51]Thanks.

[01:11:54]>> Hello everyone. Uh my name is Rafael Chesori from Kenya.

[01:11:59]I'm here as the retired president of African young generation but not tired.

[01:12:09]uh one is to appreciate the NASA for bringing all the face of Africa here >> and this really marks a very very bold step to us. Pass on the microphone.

[01:12:21]Retired president >> promise. True.

[01:12:24]>> Sorry for that.

[01:12:25]>> Retired president. We are not campaigning.

[01:12:28]>> Uh >> let's wrap it up.

[01:12:30]>> Okay.

[01:12:31]>> Is Kurupita again from South Sudan? Um thank you so much. Uh 81% of South Sudan population lack electricity. So I invite every uh energy companies who are interested in our in our country to invest. Don't worry about insecurity.

[01:12:50]I'm also the peacemaker.

[01:12:56]So don't worry about insecurity. I'm one of the young people who is working so hard to make sure there is peace in the country. So come to my country and invest in our nation.

[01:13:10]>> Good afternoon everyone. Sorry somebody already said Cameroon. I'm from Cameroon. I'm a cyber security trainer in human in tech Cameroon. Thanks for having me.

[01:13:34]Hello everyone, my name is Milagi Asumu Wendy Pearl and I'm come from Gabo.

[01:13:42]Hello everyone, my name is Lo Shim. I'm from Bundi but I currently live in Uranda for 10 years and I'm glad for warm welcome from uh by Mr. President and I in general. Thank you very much.

[01:13:59]Hello everyone. My name is Onori Chando.

[01:14:03]I'm from Togo. I'm working for the Ministry of Energy. Thank you.

[01:14:10]The last but not least, myself, Amandle.

[01:14:13]I'm from South Africa and a win global YG board advisor. Thank you so much to NASA for organizing us and bring us together.

[01:14:23]>> Thank you very much. Now you can all resume your seats. Thank you. I'd said I'll put you on the spot. No, I was kidding. Thank you so so much. I can see some countries broke the rules. You said one person, we forgive you.

[01:14:36]Thank you so much. Now, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure for me to invite Chairman Lassina Zabo for his closing remarks.

[01:15:01]Thank you.

[01:15:05]Let me recognize uh Minister Jimmy and then uh uh colleagues, ministers from uh Africa who have joined us uh for this nuclear energy summit for Africa.

[01:15:20]And uh also would like to recognize former minister my dear friend Rome Murzi who came all the way. He missed the opening but I want to recognize his presence. Uh Rome Murenzi is a former minister of science and technology of Rwanda and uh we've been working on uh science diplomacy together for many years. So remain welcome and I'm sure you've talked about others and I don't want to start uh naming all the high level present in the room but let me thank you dearly for joining us this year at this NESA 2026 when we started this we didn't started as uh Rwanda the country we wanted to offer a platform where every single African country can take over and then make a case for how involved it could be for nuclear nuclear energy implementation.

[01:16:19]So we often say one country is taking the lead but here we all take the lead and that's why we talking about rotating this event in the continent. So not we don't only work together people see what we can all do together for the continent and by the continent because often when you see conferences it's somebody elsewhere financing or sponsoring a conference for us to be able to meet but this has been done by us for us and inviting the international partners to come and work with us and I I want to I said it in the opening remark but I can't stop saying it to be able to do that uh I had to count on the vision and the leadership of his excellency president Paul Kagame uh when I went to him and then talk about trying to do something for the continent by the continent with international partners coming to share their experience he just said let's go for it and we went for it and here we So in that vein we have over 1,500 delegates from 58 countries more than 600 government officials representative from over 25 financial institution and I want to recognize the African Development Bank. One of the senior advisers is here. My dear friend Diaete who has been uh working in the human capacity building because that's what he's been doing all his life. The West African Development Bank, East African Development Bank, the World Bank and then many FDI and then uh Kenya who has also been uh showing leadership in a topic that is coming which is tokenization and I want to thank them all for being here. Thank you so much.

[01:18:25]So what are the key outcomes uh from the summit?

[01:18:31]We have a strong recognition that financing nuclear energy in Africa is no longer theoretic a theoretical discussion but a national agenda and it's true. Uh many have told me but we don't understand. They're telling us it's not the issue of money. We have money we can finance. It's a a question of making a structure ourself to make sure people can trust what we want to do. And then when we talk about financing, it's not financing the whole project. We count on you guys to finance prefeasibility study, feasibility study, human capacity development and so on as we move towards the construction and what could contribute to building or to having a nuclear power plant. The second is a growing readiness from development finance institution including the world bank as I say the AFDB and TDB to support nuclear related planning technical assistance and then I mentioned the feasibility study where they can contribute but we've also talked about philanthropy and then it has been a topic today and uh when you saw the list of the philanthropic institution I would like to see some of our big and main financial gurus if I could say it in the continent to join this coalition for the continent so that we don't only see philanthropy from elsewhere coming to help us. We have our own gurus, financial gurus who can help the young generation move forward for this nuclear energy implementation. I've talked to uh the president who were present about it and then they're looking forward to getting some of them to join us for you the young people present in the in the room.

[01:20:23]So the third is a shared understanding that the regional cooperation through interconnecting power pool because we've talked a lot about the electricity power pool harmonized regulation shared infrastructure and joint planning will be essential essential for scalable nuclear deployment across the continent.

[01:20:46]Now since we talk about cooperation, let me lay out some of the things that we've uh managed to conclude during this NESA 2026.

[01:20:56]Cooperation came strongly to the forefront through important announcement and partnership advanced during the summit. This include the RA completion of phase one where director general uh dear friend Rafael Mariano handed over to his excellency president Kagame talking about us being at the next phase of the year milestone.

[01:21:23]The second is a nuclear cooperation memorandum of understanding between Randa and the United States.

[01:21:30]We have to also mention that we've had several before. We had an understanding with some uh uh micro companies from US with Rosatum and then many others. I also want to recognize the presence of INVAP from Argentina in term of southside cooperation. I visited in 2014 uh Bariloce uh the INVAP with their technology that was mainly aimed at helping the the developing countries to raise up to the standard of implementation of nuclear energy. It was together with uh Rafael GCI at the time when he was ambassador uh to the CTBT and the IA in Vienna. So we have also enable you between the ministry of infrastructure dear minister Gas here and the United States and the United Republic of Tanzania.

[01:22:24]an MOU between the Ministry of Finance and the United State the United Republic of Tanzania. A MOU between the Ministry of Infrastructure and the International Atomic Energy Agency. We considering as well an MOU with GEK, the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission that is certainly coming soon since they're well represented here. We've signed an MOU between Ryb the Ronda Atomic Energy Board and the World Institute for Nuclear Security Wins and then the name you between Ry and Hal.

[01:23:01]So I've mentioned I've recognized Minister Jimmy right in the beginning. Minister Jimmy, I would like you to join me on stage h for people to give him a big round of applause.

[01:23:21]for Jim's setting, administrative setting and his personal leadership have been instrumental in making this happen. So what you see when we say made by us and then for us, it's coming from the ministry of infrastructure and energy.

[01:23:40]And I often tell Minister Jimmy, he always say I'm the minister of infrastructure and then I always say add energy. So maybe what we'll do since we've hosted this one, Minister Jimmy, you'll start by saying I'm minister of energy and infrastructure.

[01:23:58]And I want before I give to Jimmy, I want to say something. I told uh uh President Kagame afterwards when I I did this little uh I don't know whether it's a joke or whatever and then he said Zerbo this is just a coincidence. I wish it was something that I thought before but it's glad to see that the coincidence of this thing looks like the atom that represent Nesa for all of you.

[01:24:23]So I want to let minister Jimmy thank those that we have to thank and then he will close and then we will say gracefully thank you to all of you.

[01:24:33]Jimmy you have the floor.

[01:24:35]>> Thank you. Thank you Dr. Z.

[01:24:39]The government of Rwanda decided that infrastructure energy is part of infrastructure because energy is the backbone of economic development. So when we set up the minister of infrastructure often people are surprised it also has energy as infrastructure. So this is not another speech. I just wanted to thank everyone who joined this NASA 2026.

[01:25:07]When we look back two years ago, we started very very small u as a small ministerial round table. That was December 2024 in a small hotel room here in Chigari. Then the next one was NSA 2025 and this one is much much bigger NSA 26 which now start turning ambitions and dreams into reality. So I thank everyone who came and join us. Honorable ministers, intern leader of international organizations, NGOs, uh youth and women, we really commend your participation, your contribution and I'm sure you don't go back home as you came. You learned something and you bring something back home.

[01:25:57]Uh Dr. Zel gave me credit for the organization of this event. I want to recognize that uh as a minister I don't really do get to do a lot of things. I follow up and ask questions. There are so many people young and women who worked tirelessly for the last 12 months preparing for this NASA. I want to recognize the secretariat the Rwanda atomic energy board staff at minifa and the government of Rwanda to have made this Nissa a success. So this is not a RA event. It's an African event and we look to see each other here again next year at in Togo. I think it was already announced. Thank you.

[01:26:50]And I think uh uh where is Val? Uh there is uh to say welcome to Togo.

[01:26:58]And uh there is a video that we will play. But before that uh when they brought all the youth from Africa and then there was room in the background, I thought our master ceremony would ask them to dance.

[01:27:14]>> No, you can still >> Yeah. And uh you didn't dance. So that's one point below because I wanted to see you all dancing, but somebody just told me that you were dancing before but you didn't invite us to come and dance with you. But anyway, master of ceremony.

[01:27:30]>> Okay, no problem. So to the youth, I think every single person who is not young in the room told me that the youth present at NES are very inspiring. So let's give a big round of applause to our youth.

[01:28:23]propose energy.

[01:28:28]Disposurational The journey continues from Giggali to Togo. Africa's nuclear energy ambition moves forward. Nissa 2027 will bring leaders, investors, regulators, industry, and communities together again. We will meet to advance Africa's nuclear energy ambitions and to take stock of the progress made since Giggali. With Togo as host, the next chapter begins. Welcome to Nissa 2027.

[01:29:39]Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for making NESA 2026 a resounding success. And we do hope to see all of you and many others in Togo in 2027.

[01:29:58]>> DJ, hold on. that that I want just in the next few minutes because we want to see the chairman and the honorable minister dance. Just before that before we blast the music for the chairman and minister I would love to invite Shira and Aruchi back on stage briefly they'll be joined by other facilitators of the simulation the policy assimulation activity Shira and Aruchi and the facilitators.

[01:30:25]A quick one before we dance and leave the room. will leave the room while dancing.

[01:30:39]Where are the other facilitators?

[01:31:00]Hello again. We'd like all the facilitators to come on stage, please.

[01:31:11]As we previously mentioned, this is the end of the day for all the adults or for all the older people and for all the young professionals, we would like to continue the session with you. So, at the end of this, we'd like you all to gather around in this auditorium and we will have some ushers with placards that will help separate us into specific breakout rooms. So, please thank you so much to all the participants of NASA this year and to the youth, thank you so much for continuing with us today.

[01:32:15]Jason Roomba for the chairman and the minister.

[01:32:27]making it a success. Let's enjoy the rest of the afternoon.