Between 23 and 27 March 2009 the entire leadership of nuclear regulatory bodies in the continent of Africa converged in Pretoria, South Africa to lunch the Forum of Nuclear Regulatory Bodies in Africa (FNRBA).

The Meeting was organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in cooperation with the Government of South Africa and was triggered by the current expansion in the demand for nuclear science and technology applications in the African continent. In Africa today is an increasing use of ionizing radiation sources and radioactive materials in various socio-economic developmental activities which calls for organised and coherent measures to regulate and control the applications of nuclear technology from a safety and security perspective without impeding on the beneficial application thereof.

The meeting was attended by heads and representatives of Regulatory Authorities from 28 participating Member States in Africa, representatives from partner institution such as Mr. Jack Ramsey, Senior Level Advisor, Office of International Programs of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC) and resource persons; Dr. Stephen Fennell of the European Radiation Protection Authorities Network and Dr Guritno Lokollo of the Asian Nuclear Safety Network. IAEA has supported the establishment of the Forum and facilitated the organization of the meeting through the Department of Technical Cooperation Division for Africa (TC) and the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security (NS). The Programme management Officer from TC and the Technical Officers from NS have attended and contributed on the forum meeting. Nigeria was represented by Professor Shamsideen Elegba, Director-General/CEO of the NNRA and the current Chairperson of FNRBA, and also by Dr. Yau Idris the NNRA Acting Director of Authorization and Enforcement.

Countries that attended the meeting are Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia’ Uganda and Zimbabwe.

OBJECTIVES OF FNRBA
The primary foundations through which valuable regulatory exercise could be ensured is by developing and sustaining sound national regulatory infrastructures which includes national regulatory bodies that are equipped to effectively and efficiently implement regulatory control over the application of nuclear technology and practices involving the use of radiation sources at a national level and by promoting regional cooperation among Regulatory Bodies. It has been recognised that networking in the African region is one way towards the achievement of this objective.

Therefore the main objectives of FNRBA include; reviewing the status of development of regulatory infrastructures in Africa, identifying challenges, opportunities, regional problems and appropriate solutions, the promotion of self assessment methodology and networking of the African regulatory bodies amongst peer institutions through the development of a network as an exchange platform. The FNRBA is also aimed at building on the current achievements of IAEA technical cooperation interventions relating to the strengthening of national radiation protection and safety infrastructures.

During the meeting a SWOT analysis of all the nuclear regulatory infrastructures was made and work plan for regional activities was reviewed and agreed upon. Based on the results of the SWOT analysis, the FNRBA meeting has identified the key regional priorities which are common to all participating member states with a more cross cutting implication for the development and strengthening of national regulatory infrastructures. The main regional priorities include Human Resource Development, enhanced regional Cooperation and the need for enhanced response to the emerging challenges for strengthening the national regulatory infrastructures. The agreed work plan is focused on identified regional priorities, common to all participating countries, particularly in the area of capacity building for effective and sustainable regulatory control of radiation sources through self assessment and enhanced regional cooperation.

The established FNRBA shall be instrumentally used to share experiences and provide assistance in such areas as drafting regulations, setting up regulatory procedures, strengthening the system of notification, authorization, inspection and enforcement for the control of radiation sources. As a result of the above the meeting underlined the formidable challenge faced by regulatory bodies to respond to the emerging demands for strengthening national regulatory infrastructures through enhanced national commitment, challenging the dependency syndrome on external support and concerted effort to advance and finalize laws and regulations and develop and implement regulatory systems.

Thematic Working Groups (TWGs)
The forum formed and agreed to work on the following Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) for developing cooperation.

S/N	TWG	ACTIVITY	COORDINATOR
1	TWG1	Upgrading Safety in Radiotherapy	Tunisia
2	TWG2	Upgrading Safety in Uranium Mining and Milling	Namibia
3	TWG3	Regulatory Framework for Licensing of Nuclear Power Plant	South Africa
4	TWG4	Upgrading Safety in Nuclear Research Reactor	Ghana
5	TWG5	Upgrading Legislative and Regulatory Infrastructure	Ethiopia
6	TWG6	Education and Training and Knowledge Management	Nigeria
7	TWG7	Upgrading Safety of Radioactive Waste Management Infrastructure	Tanzania

Election of Steering Committee of the FNRBA
In the two days deliberation the newly established “Forum of Nuclear Regulatory Bodies in Africa” (FNRBA) advanced a structured discussion on the comprehensive agenda and accomplished the exercises of visioning and outlining the Forum’s mission statement. The meeting also discussed and finalized the Forum Charter and formalized the Forum programme and activities and elected its first Steering Committee Members (SCMs). The elected Members are:

S/N	Name	Country	Designation
1	Prof. Shamsideen Elegba	Nigeria	Chairperson
2	Prof. Azza Hammou	Tunisia	Vice Chairperson
3	Mr. Wilbert Leotwane	South Africa	Secretary
4	Dr. Abdellaziz Hajjani	Morocco	Deputy secretary
5	Dr. Joel Kamande	Kenya	Representing Eastern Africa
6	Dr. Kaniki Kakule	DRC	Representing Central Africa
7	Mr. Hamadou  Kando	Niger	Representing Western Africa
8	Mr. Axel Tibiniane	Namibia	Representing Southern Africa
9	Representative of Northern Africa to be decided after consultation.

Launching and Signing of the FNRBA Charter
Upon successful completion of the Agenda items, the FNRBA was officially launched in the presence of Senior Government Officials and representatives of IAEA Member States by the signing of the Forum Charter during the official Gala Dinner hosted by the Government of the Republic of South Africa. The charter was signed by 18 of the 28 Regulatory Bodies participating in the meeting of the Forum. The required number of signatories for the charter to be adopted is 10 member regulatory bodies.

 Challenges and Opportunities for Nigeria

1.Nigeria has consolidated its leadership status in Africa by becoming the first Chairperson of the Forum of Nuclear Regulatory Bodies of Africa (FNRBA). This is a great achievement for the country particularly now that Nigeria is pursuing generation of electricity by nuclear power.

2.The benefits of nominating and choosing Nigeria as the Coordinator of the Thematic Working Group 6 ‘Education and Training, and Knowledge Management’ are immense, particularly to the National Institute of Radiation Protection and Research (NIRPR), University of Ibadn which was set up by the NNRA through an MOU with University of Ibadan. The NIRPR which has started courses in Masters of Radiation Protection (MPR) and Postgraduate Diploma in Radiation Protection (PGDRP) can be used to train radiation protection officers from other African countries.

3.Nigeria as the host of the IAEA Regional Workshops for Anglophone countries scheduled for 15-19 June 2009 and IAEA Regional Training Course for Regulators on Authorization and Inspection in English scheduled for 5-30 October, 2009 shows the confidence the international community has in NNRA and Nigeria in particular.

4.Sustaining the Role Model Status of the NNRA in Africa as the fastest growing and most efficient nuclear regulatory body which was acknowledged by FNRBA is evident on the responsibilities Nigeria is saddled with by both the IAEA and the FNRBA.