Nigeria’s first two satellites in space – NigSat-1 and NigSat-2 – are Earth Observation Satellites which capture data from the outer space and produce geo-spatial images which are received as real-time and reliable signals at space stations to help monitor effects of climate and human-induced changes in the ecosystem.
According to Boroffice (2008), these satellites “provide high-resolution imaging for applications in mapping, water resources management, agricultural land use, population estimation, health hazard monitoring and disaster mitigation and management”. They are also part of Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) for global daily real-time measurement and monitoring of atmospheric natural disasters and environmental hazards. It is on record that NigSat-1 provided images for the mapping and management of the 2004 Asian Tsunami and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in the USA.
Here at home, images from the satellite were used in mapping of flood hazards and risks in many settlements, such as the Shiroro Dam area and other roads and water bodies and gully erosion in South-East Nigeria; monitoring of deforestation and its implications on the ecosystem; predicting early warning for desertification and assessing the impacts of climate change as well as land use and cover.
Recognizing the role of ICT in national development, NigComSat-1, a communication satellite that provides a backbone for ICT services in the areas of telephony, video data transfer, e-learning, e-commerce, e-government, tele-medicine, tele-education, tele-conferencing, television signals, internet data transmissions and GPS signals which enhance security and surveillance, was launched in May 2007 and then re-launched as NigComSat-1R in 2011 due to earlier technical error.
As Nigeria faces a crucial general election in few days, space science and technology will contribute significantly to the needed logistics by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the country’s electoral umpire, in monitoring events at various polling booths nationwide. With satellite images reflecting on a screen positioned on a table at the INEC office, an election official can see at a glance happenings in diverse communities. Places not easily accessible by road can be effectively planned for, and electoral processes in such places revealed and followed clearly. It was learnt there was a synergy of some sort between NASRDA and INEC for satellite monitoring of the 2011 general elections. Such is expected to be improved upon in the 2015 polls.
It is also gathered that Nigeria’s military intelligence and other security agencies have partnered with NASRDA to utilize satellite-captured images in security and surveillance exercises. The ongoing search for the missing Chibok Girls, in particular, is being monitored through space-derived data and images.
Earth Observation data captured on satellite for weather forecast, resources inventory, environmental sustainability, agricultural development, disaster management, industrial and ICT-engineering, as well as space stations development are common features of developed economies the world over. Invariably, national development will remain an illusion in any nation with large GDP figures but heavy reliance on importation of all manners of consumer goods including even junks like safety matches and tooth picks, until attention is given to the development of its local content for self-reliance.
Solutions to our national problems, particularly job creation that will provide means of livelihood for millions of unemployed youths like Nicholas, do not always consist in throwing money at the problems. The solutions are in developing our technical know-how and the most effective catalyst of this task in the 21st Century is application of knowledge derived from space programme.
It is true that the nation’s scarce resources should be wisely allocated. I therefore support heavy investments in roads, schools, clinics, etc. But I must add that our indigenous space capacity must not be neglected in our striving to develop as a nation. We should avoid being penny wise and pound foolish – resources spent on social amenities will be washed away by flood and natural disasters if we care not and know nothing about what goes on in our environment. The essence of indigenous space capacity could be seen, for example, in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and 2011 in Japan. While the former was helplessly ruined, the latter responded to cushion the effects with the latest of geo-spatial technologies.
Nigeria’s space policy, which was first developed in 1999, is a 25-year programme planned towards the development of space science and technology in the country through R&D and also capacity building in the fields of science, engineering, space law and administration for sustainable national development. The nation’s dreams under the policy are to produce a Nigerian astronaut by 2015; launch a Nigerian-made satellite between 2018 and 2030; and land a Nigerian astronaut on the moon by 2030.
It is therefore imperative, in my view, and given the central role our indigenous space capability development is to play on our road to joining the league of advanced nations, that government creates more public awareness as well as embark on mass education about our space programme. If launching satellites into space is rocket science, creating awareness about its strategic importance to sustainable development isn’t.
Awareness, interest and participation, the three key words in indigenous space capability, are at a low ebb in Nigeria. Proper education, especially from the basic level upwards, outreach programmes mostly targeted at the grassroots, and thorough investments in R&D by public and private institutions will end our era of cynicism and technological incapacity. I propose the inclusion of Basic Earth and Space Studies as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary school curricula. This will enable little children grow up caring, protecting, and volunteering to teach others about the environment. Similarly, Space Law (airspace and outer space), at present an aspect of Public International Law offered as an elective course in Law degree programme, should be made a compulsory course for all Law undergraduates in our universities. I also suggest that the United Nations World Environment Day (June 5) should become a public holiday in Nigeria, to be spent on community awareness campaign about the earth and its conservation, as well as space programme and its developmental impacts.
In a new world order that revolves around sustainable development strategies, largely driven by big data and championed by knowledge-economies, which are all-together enhanced by efficient application of space programme, Nigeria can no longer afford to continue to exist as a giant only in dream land. It must act!
Oluwatoba Oguntuase
