The Federal Government on Friday in
Abuja signed a $250m joint venture/partnership agreement with a United
Kingdom-based company, Menasat Gulf Group Plc, to provide
Synthetic-Aperture Radar satellites in the country.
When operational, the SAR satellite
technology will be the first of its kind in Nigeria. Images generated
from it will benefit oil and gas operators, farmers, among others.
It will also be used for ocean monitoring, tracking of oil pipelines and also military activities.
The Director-General, National Space
Research and Development Agency, Dr. Seidu Mohammed, while signing the
contract, said the SAR technology was necessary for Nigeria because of
the challenges the agency had faced in acquiring images in mostly the
southern part of the country.
“We have always had this constraint that
even though we are the national repository for satellite images, we are
not able to provide completely all the required images in this country.
In the light of that, we have specially taken this opportunity to
satisfy the Nigerian market”, he said.
According to the NSRDA DG, the Federal
Government will contribute its expertise and make a place available to
enable the firm set up a ground-saving station and equipment which will
process and make the images available for Nigerians.
The Managing Director, Menasat, Dr. Hani
Salem, said the company chose to invest in Nigeria because of its solid
foundation, capacity and advancement in the earth observation satellite
sector.
He said, “We have a very important and
solid foundation to build on in Nigeria for this technology; that is why
we are here. The first satellite plan is expected to be completed by
2020 and will cost $250m.”
Salem said the satellite, being the
first in Africa, was an advanced step for Nigeria. He noted that it
would have an impact on the technological development of the country.
According to him, the project will
commence with the development of a data centre in a couple of months,
training of the Nigerian team, direct receiving station and lastly, have
the radar satellite in space.
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