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The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence, Mr Fritz Baffour, has called for support from organisations in championing the ban on nuclear weapons. That, he said, would help create the awareness of the destructive effects of nuclear weapons and also compel relevant authorities to ban it. Mr Baffour made the call yesterday at the round-table meeting of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The ICAN is a coalition of civil society organisations across the globe, working through governments for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. The meeting, organised by the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) in collaboration with the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, was to raise the awareness of the destructive effects of nuclear weapons and the associated challenge of not being able to provide effective emergency relief following its use. Mr Baffour said since independence, Ghana had always shown support for any treaty aimed at banning weapons of mass destruction. He said to demonstrate the country�s strong support for the ban of nuclear weapons, Ghana was attending the third conference in Vienna. He said the production, maintenance and modernisation of nuclear weapons diverted vast public resources away from healthcare, education, climate change, disaster relief and other vital services. Mr Baffour said globally, the annual expenditure on nuclear weapons was estimated at US$40-60 billion, translating into a breakdown of US$12million an hour. Nuclear weapon spending in 2010, he said, was more than twice the official development assistance provided for Africa, and equal to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Bangladesh, a nation of some 160 million people. Mr Baffour, therefore, pledged the government�s commitment to the campaign on the ban of nuclear weapons, adding: �As a matter of necessity, the committee would lobby other parliamentarians in the country to join in the campaign on the ban treaty.� Ban nuclear weapons In her address, the Executive Director of FOSDA, Ms Afi Yakubu, said recognition was growing - that the use of nuclear weapons would be inconsistent with fundamental tenets of International Humanitarian Law, including key principles governing the legal use of force. �If the consequences of nuclear weapons use are unacceptable, and there is a clear and present danger that these weapons may be used by accident, miscalculation or design, then they must be eliminated,� she said. She therefore urged the media and the public to add a stronger voice to the international call for the ban treaty. The Director General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Prof Benjamin K. B. Nyarko, also called for Ghana�s support to help put a ban on the use of weapons around the world.