Minister of Higher Education Nkandu Luo says the International Atomic Energy Agency has pledged to assist Zambia in training Human resource in Nuclear Science.
According to a statement issued by Zambia’s First Secretary for Press in Ethiopia Inutu Mwanza, Prof Luo said the agency was ready to support Zambia in human resource and capacity development as the country prepared to set up its first ever Nuclear Centre.
Prof Luo said the essence of setting up a Nuclear Centre was to increase research in health and increase knowledge on other sources of energy that include nuclear energy.
The Minister said so far, government had signed the contract for the construction of the centre that would be located in Chongwe District.
She further said Zambia had already started using Nuclear Science in the health sector through diagnosis of Cancer and treatment that involves radiation at Health Institutions such as the Cancer Diseases Hospital.
Professor Luo said Zambia needed to interact heavily with countries that were already doing well in Nuclear Science.
She said government was receiving a lot of support from countries like Russia were currently training 40 Zambian students in Nuclear Science.
Professor Luo was speaking at Bole International Airport when she transited from Vienna where she attended the 61st Regular Session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Minister however expressed concern that only one Zambian was employed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
She said this was a matter of concern that she had raised with the Director General of the Agency.
Professor Luo said apart from the technical support rendered to Zambia by UN agencies, it was important that such agencies employed Zambians.
She said government would ensure that it seconds people to take jobs in UN agencies saying the country would leverage more if it had its own people working in key positions of the agencies.
The Minister was received at Bole International Airport by Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union Susan Sikaneta.
