The Federal Government has assured that it will deploy nuclear technology in combating malaria scourge in the country and Africa in general.
Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology, disclosed this when Mr. Jon Tong Choi, Ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, paid him a courtesy call in his office in Abuja.
Onu stressed that collaboration between Nigeria and North Korea in nuclear technology would sterilise the reproductive ability of anopheles’ mosquitoes, the vector carrier of the disease.
According to the minister, nuclear technology would be deployed to control the birth of anopheles’ mosquitoes, adding that malaria is the number one cause of death in Africa.
He pledged that Nigeria would take the lead in the eradication of malaria on the continent, pointing out that malaria had a debilitating effect on the economy, as it had been contributing to the reduction of the population of the workforce.
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Ambassador Choi, on his part, said that North Korea would be willing to partner with Nigeria in developing science and technology through the exchange of researchers from research institutes of both countries.
Choi maintained that science and technology had become an important asset of any country that aspired to develop, adding that science and technology was the foundation of economic development.
