Despite gulping N101.744 billion in three years (2021 to 2023), the country’s space programme has failed to send an unmanned mission to space, a target it set for itself by 2022, with indications that it may also miss the plan of sending manned mission to space by 2030.
• NARSDA received N6.166bn in 2021 while 14 supporting mini agencies gulped N15bn same yearFurther breakdown indicates that the Nigeria Space Programme has failed to meet over 70 per cent of its mission and vision. The programme has also failed to launch satellites into space as promised by the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the National Space Research and Development Agency .
A breakdown showed that there was a 450 per cent increase in the approved budget for NASRDA from total allocation of N6,166,477,307 in 2021 to N27,881,134,480 in 2022. Expectedly, a large chunk of the budget went for payment of salaries. Of the N6.166 billion in 2021, N3.798 billion was for personnel, N185.420 million for overhead and only N2.182 billion for capital projects.
Others are: Advanced Aerospace Engine Laboratory Oka, Ondo State – N444,722,273; Advanced Unmanned Aerial Laboratory Uburu, Ebonyi State – N742,645,567; NASRDA Institute of Space Science and Engineering Abuja – N542,247,723; Zonal Advanced Space Technology Application Kashere, Gombe State – N380,555,070; Zonal Advanced Space Technology Application Ikwo, Ebonyi State – N71,425,001; and Zonal Advanced Space Technology Application Langtang, Plateau State – N378,925,419.
NASRDA has, over the years, shown a pivotal role in its deployment of expertise in the design, building and launch of Nigerian satellites. These include NigeriaSat -1, NigeriaSat–2, NigComSat-1R and most importantly, the NigeriaSat-X, which was designed and built to flight standard by Nigerian engineers and scientists.
Indeed, compared to most middle-income countries, African countries have slightly lower budgets to drive space exploits. A perfect case in point is South Africa’s $168 million space budget for 2020 , versus the $1.89 billion allocation by India. As a matter of fact, the latter figure nearly doubled the total allocation by the entire African space programmes combined in 2022. These financial provisions still remain relatively low compared to space-dominant forces such as the U.S.
For instance, trailing behind the world powers is the Indian federation, which had the fourth-highest space budget in 2013, injecting $4.267 billion, behind only the USA, China, and Russia. The plan was China would build the first satellite, build the second, while tutoring Nigerians who would later build the third, Obasanjo said. “But the 120 Nigerians are nowhere to be found again; incidentally, they are not dead,” he told his guests.
A space engineer, Prof. Spencer Onuh, said the Nigerian space programmes need to engage relevant stakeholders to harness the benefits in space science technology. Onuh said people that constituted the informal sector like farmers and entrepreneurs can be trained on how to use information from space. In May 1999, the NASRDA was born following the recommendation of a nine-person committee of experts constituted by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure .
It also has a subsidiary, GeoApps Plus Limited, which is expected to handle the sale of satellite images acquired by Nigeria’s earth observation satellites. According to its Facebook page, it provides training in Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies , and the military, among others.
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