Engineers lament satellites management

The President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers [NSE] Otis Anyeaji said the society is deeply concerned about the proliferation of agencies managing the country’s satellites.

Two federal government agencies; the National Space Research and Development Agency [NASRDA] which is under the ministry of science and technology and the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited [NIGCOMSAT] is under ministry of communications, are managing Nigeria1R and Nigcomsat-1 respectively.

But the NSE president said yesterday, that the practice of managing a country’s satellites by different agencies was dangerous for the nation’s space programme.

Anyeaji said this when he led members of NSE Space Programme Division, on a visit to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu.

“In all serious Space faring nations, the management of their satellites is vested in one ministry. However, in Nigeria with just two types of satellites, we have more than one managing ministries. What would happen when Nigeria government decides to launch a metrological satellite? Will it be managed by another ministry? We strongly advise that this issue should be given urgent attention,” Anyeaji who was represented by the NSE Vice President, Tasiu Wudil said.