A former Director-General of the National Space Research and Development Agency, Prof Ajayi Boroffice, has described as a mistake the decision to separate the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited from NASRDA.
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NASRDA, established to among other things develop satellite technology for various applications in the country, is an agency under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, while NigCOMSAT, initially set up as the commercial arm of NASRDA, is under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
Several reactions had greeted the declaration by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NigCOMSAT, Dr Abimbola Alale, that the agency was planning to launch two satellites between now and 2025 to replace the NigComSat-1R, which expires in 2026. Some analysts explained that launching satellites is not the duty of NIGCOMSAT.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum themed ‘NIGCOMSAT Ltd: The present and the future’ in September, Alale stated, “I am pleased to inform you of our desire to acquire more satellites between now and 2025, with the NigComSat-2 satellite due for launch in 2023 and the NigComSat-3 that will be launched in 2025.
“This will not only inspire confidence in our customers and channel partners, but also place NIGCOMSAT Ltd in the front line of communication satellite operators with a fleet of satellites in orbit.”
Reacting to the development in an interview with one of our correspondents on Friday, Boroffice, who is the Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, said the task of launching satellites should be the function of NASRDA.
He said, “I think it is a mistake to have taken NIGCOMSAT away from NASRDA. I only hope the mistake will be corrected in the future. I don’t want to get myself involved in the politics.
“Both of them have the potential of contributing to the development of our country. Territorial claims should not be allowed to erode the potential of their contributions to national development.
“There are two services that satellites can render. One of them is communication and the other is sending remote sensing data. That is why we have NigeriaSAT-1 and NigeriaSAT-2. So, establishing another company called NigeriaSAT-2, to me, doesn’t make sense. They are both generated by NASRDA.”
The analysts had pointed out that NASRDA is the only agency empowered by law to acquire satellites while NIGCOMSAT was established as a commercial agency to handle the sale and lease of satellite communication services.
Meanwhile, Section 6(b) under the Part 2 of the NASRDA Act, 2010 also states, “The agency shall develop satellite technology for various applications and operationalise indigenous space systems for providing space services and shall be the government agency charged with the responsibility for building and launching satellites.”
Efforts to get NIGCOMSAT’s response to the reactions were not successful as calls to the mobile line of its Public Affairs Manager, Alhaji Idris Barade, were not answered. Also, a text message sent to him was not replied to.
Also, it was reliably gathered that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in a 2011 memo directed that NASRDA was to “focus on its statutory function of development and launch of satellites amongst others, and NIGCOMSAT to focus only on the commercialisation of satellite resources”.
Similarly, the Office of the Solicitor-General of the Federation in 2012 wrote to the then Minister of Science and Technology confirming NASRDA as the sole agency of government responsible for the building and launching of satellites.
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