Hello Dr. Tumasang,
I do not think Nigeria's plunge into the space race is a wild goose chase. I see it as a process of prioritizing development activities. I know very well that Nigeria has more important development priorities like health care, education, agriculture, etc, like other African countries, but I see nothing wrong with devoting a little portion of the development budget to space research.
JTA
If You do not know Your Capabilities and Limitations, You are a Danger to Yourself and Society.
From: Tumasang Martin <tumasangm@hotmail.com>
To: "camnetwork@yahoogroups.com" <camnetwork@yahoogroups.com>; "ambasbay@googlegroups.com" <ambasbay@googlegroups.com>; "cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com" <cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2013 3:55 AM
Subject: [camnetwork] Nigeria's incursion into space: A wild goosechase?Nigeria's incursion into space: A wild goose chase?
A lot of reactions have greeted the nation's quest for space technological advancement. While some have praised the move to high heavens, some have labelled it another white elephant project that would only be used to siphon funds. The question being asked over and over again is: What is a nation that cannot maintain its roads doing in space?
Last week, glasses were clinked in the space technology world. It was exactly 50 years on Friday, 23 August, 2013 when the historic telephone conversation between American President John Kennedy and Nigerian Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa was recorded. It was the first two-way call between Heads of State via Satellite and it symbolised the beginning of technological revolutions across the globe through Space Applications. The historic event, which marked the world's first Satellite – relayed telephone call was carried out through Syncom-2 satellite, which was launched on a Delta rocket B booster from Cape Canaveral in the United States of America. Fifty years after the Syncom Satellite launch and the successful experiment between the US and Nigeria, hundreds of communication Satellites are now in the skies above earth in geosynchronous orbit; Nigeria owns three of them. It would have been four but her first satellite lost power and disappeared from orbit. Nigeria's first sojourn into space was in 2003. Fifty years after the historic telephone conversation between Kennedy and Balewa, Nigeria is not only in Space but also currently taking the lead in the space race in Africa with three Earth Observation Satellites in the orbit (Nigeriasat-1, Nigeriasat-2 and Nigeria sat- X) and a Communication Satellite (NIGCOMSAT 1R). Two years ago, in its quest for further technological relevance and empowerment, when Nigeria launched two satellites known as Nigeria Sat X and an earth observation satellite called NigeriaSat2 in faraway Russia; it was an event that was widely described as a feat worthy of celebration. However, that was not the first time Nigeria would be going into the orbit as it had on September 27, 2003 and May 2007 in China launched satellites called NigeriaSat- 1 and another communications satellite called Nigeria Communications Satellite NIGCOMSAT. These satellites were respectively designed, built, developed and manufactured by a Chinese company. However, what made the 2011 launch unique was the fact that one of the two satellites, an experimental satellite called the Nigeria Sat X was wholly built by Nigerian engineers and scientists. While the Nigerian professionals who trained abroad were said to have successfully designed and built the experimental satellite called NigeriaSat-X, the satellite has a 2.5-metre high spatial resolution sensor as a strength point, a feat stakeholders described as a stepping stone to seeing Nigeria among technological advanced countries. The country went further by giving its 25-year road map for space technology development a boost. It decided to recruit possible candidates for the first crop of astronauts to be sent to space by the end of 2015 and the development of Assembly Integrated Testing and Design Centre (AITDC), which will enable Nigerians build satellites at home. The roadmap was kicked-off last year with the handover of NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X Earth observation satellites to National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) in Abuja by the Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Bassey Ewa Ita. The 25-year roadmap for space technology development approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) includes: satellite technology development and launch (Earth observation, communication, and radar) between 2003 to 2015, launch a satellite manufactured in Nigeria by the year 2018, and launch from Nigeria launch vehicle made in Nigeria by the year 2028. Laudable schemes and plans, one is wont to say. Reactions from some sections of Nigeria and the international community have, however, brought up some unsavoury questions as to the desirability, appropriateness and even the prioritisation of space technology to the neglect of other pressing issues. Before the august celebration of the 50th anniversary of Syncom Satellite launch, Britons had spit into the air over the enormous grant their country is giving as aid to Nigeria for her quest into the orbit. It was alleged that up to date Nigeria had received over a 1 billion pounds from Britain as aid for her Space race. Nigeria is meant to receive a whopping £1.14billion from Britain over five years. An article on www.dailymail. co.uk castigated Nigeria and lambasted the British government for flushing tax payers money down the drain insisting that giving any aid to Nigeria is tantamount to wasting their money. "A country so corrupt it would be better to burn our aid money", the online newspaper quoted a respondent. It made reference to Transparency International monitored international financial corruption which placed Nigeria in the 172nd position out of the 215 countries surveyed. "Only countries as dysfunctional, derelict and downright dangerous as Haiti or the Congo are more corrupt. In theory, Nigeria's 170 million strong population should be prospering in a country that in recent years has launched four satellites into space and now has a burgeoning space programme. "Moreover, Nigeria is sitting on crude oil reserves estimated at 35 billion barrels (enough to fuel the entire world for more than a year), not to mention 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. "It also manages to pay its legislators the highest salaries in the world, with a basic wage of £122,000, nearly double what British MPs earn and many hundreds of times that of the country's ordinary citizens. No wonder the ruling elite can afford luxury homes in London or Paris, and top-end cars that, across West Africa, have led to the sobriquet 'Wabenzi', or people of the Mercedes-Benz. "Yet 70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line of £1.29 a day, struggling with a failing infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages because of a lack of petrol refining capacity, even though their country produces more crude oil than Texas," the publication said. "Frankly, we might as well flush our cash away or burn it for all the good it's doing for ordinary Nigerians," the article in www.dailymail. co.uk concluded. Not to be caught napping at least in the supply of defence, the Director-General, National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Prof. Seidu Onailo Mohammed described the claims by a member of the European Parliament, Mr. Godfrey Bloom that the Nigerian Space Programme is being funded with aid from British Government as mischievous and untrue. The NASRDA boss stated this at a Press Conference in Abuja on the official position of the Agency to Godfrey Bloom's claim. Mohammed stated that the agency had not at any time received financial aid or grant from the United Kingdom for the Space Programme, but has an existing cordial relationship established with Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, a United Kingdom based company purely on commercial basis. He said, Nigeria as a sovereign Nation is a signatory to the United Nations International Committee on the peaceful uses of outer Space does not require anybody to educate her on what to do and how to achieve socio economic development barthrough her national space asset. Mohammed, however, placed on record the defence by the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron who has faulted the remarks of Bloom as offensive, accusing the member of the European Parliament as being "guilty of a stop the world and get us out approach" to foreign aid. The NASRDA boss also told the press that, the British International Development Secretary, Justine Greening in a statement has launched a staunch defense to reaffirm that no United Kingdom funds were being given for Space schemes in any developing Nation. The Director-General while defending the nation's huge investment in satellite said that Communication Satellite is making a huge remittance to the economy by raking in about $90 billion in 2011 alone, comprising Satellite Television, Satellite radio and broadband. In addition, he said that about $16 billion revenue also accrued to the industry in the same year. Mohammed disclosed this during a lecture on Communication Satellite in Commemoration of the Launch of the first Communication Satellite in Nigeria organized by NASRDA in Abuja. He described Communication Satellite as a multi-billion dollars industry that gives high returns on investments, which must be tapped by both government and private sector to drive enhance their operations. He said that the launch of Syncom" in 23 August, 1963, symbolized the beginning of technological revolutions across the globe through the application of Space Science Technology. According to him, there are approximately 1,107 Satellite providing civilians communication and another 792 supporting military communications, some seven hundred of them are in geosynchronous orbit.
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