The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) has said the valuation of Nigeria’s space industry could be as high as $1 billion.
Director-General of the agency, Dr Halilu Shaba, also clarified that it had successfully cultivated the essential resources and expertise needed for the sector to prosper.
Shaba said, “The value of Nigeria’s space industry should be worth $1 billion because we have developed the critical mass. We already have a design of what our next satellite will look like, but we need funds.
“Again, because we are sitting at the equator, all our communications satellites used to have very wide coverage; they are more than any other country.
“Angola launched but the footage is not all over Africa but our satellites will always have footage all over Africa, not only for West Africa and that gives us the market.
“We value ourselves as the only operators at the equator and because of that, we imagine our reach; that alone gives us a unique position.”
He also mentioned that the agency is actively implementing measures to democratise space technology and involve a broader spectrum of Nigerians to enhance awareness, thereby ensuring transparency in its service delivery.
Shaba said, “A lot of people use this technology without knowing it. They use Global Positioning System (GPS), hand-held phones and they don’t even know that these are space technology.
“In everything we do these days, technology is been used but the common man is not even aware that it is this same technology. We are talking to the people who will break it down to the citizens through the relevant institutions.”
The NASRDA DG also noted that the agency has progressively bolstered its collaborations with universities to foster a research-oriented culture.
He also mentioned that the agency has actively promoted the pursuit of advanced degrees, such as Masters and Doctorate programmes among its researchers.
The initiative, he said, aims to deepen their knowledge and contribute to the development of a critical mass of expertise. However, he pointed out that security concerns had posed a hindrance to achieving a round-the-clock research culture.
“We are working to change the culture of research because you must have security. Comparing with some other countries that are into space science technology, you see that they have about a 24-hour research culture but in the case of Nigeria, we just have about eight hours, yet we are competing.
“We have been consistently trying to see how our centres and campuses located sometimes in the outskirts of town can improve on research by having 24 hours,” he said.
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