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The Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Unaji, has announced the government’s ongoing efforts to deploy space observation satellites to monitor various activities across the country from space.
Speaking at the official commissioning of the Advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Laboratory (AUVAL) of space agencies in Abuja, Unaji commended the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), NICOMSAT, and the Defence Space Administration for their critical roles in advancing the satellite project.
The minister also revealed that the agency would soon begin regulating and licensing activities across the upstream, mainstream, and downstream sectors, further strengthening Nigeria’s space capabilities.
He said: “I want to thank President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for supporting activities of
science and Technology by ensuring that like other nations Nigeria ensure it’s space activities is secured.
“Again the partnership between the three agencies is important as they all have their major roles to play in the military and the country. The satellite in space is also a revenue generating avenue for the country because of the influx of ships whose monitoring can only be done by satellite.
The Director General NARSRA, Dr Matthew Olumide Adepoju said the agency has done a lot of research and has seen breakthrough, the major challenge now is how to turn it to product and services in the area of economic advantages and even security. ‘We have also charged our engineers and scientist to work as a team’.
Chichebe Akachukwu, Director, Coordinator of Mandilla laboratory said the agency is operating with the directive of executive order 5 which is encouraging Nigerians to do things themselves.
He said: “Most of the equipments we use are locally made. Nigeria has a lot of raw materials, we harness them and process them to bring out the final output. For the electronics they are all designed in Nigeria.”