News -- Minister expresses optimism over Nigeria's space project

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Minister expresses optimism over Nigeria's space project

By Tony Edike
Thursday, July 15, 2004

ENUGU - - MINISTER of Science and Technology, Professor Turner Isoun has said that the recent validation exercise of data from the spacecraft has given an indication that Nigeria Sat-1 launched last year would be excellent for environmental management and monitoring as well as for the validation of results from the proposed national census.

The minister who disclosed this while commissioning the Centre for Basic Space Science, Nsukka, Enugu State, stressed that national development and sustenance in the 21st century depend on science and technology, adding that government appreciated that investments in the area of space science and technology allow for new initiatives to tackle the nation's socio-economic problems.

Isoun said this inspired the Obasanjo administration to initiate the national space programme, part of which culminated in the launch of the Nigeria Sat-1 satellite, noting that this had placed the nation among the League of Nations exploring socio-economic benefits of space science and technology. He said that the commissioning of the Centre for Basic Space Science (CBSS) as one of the centers of excellence had offered new challenges to the nation's atmospheric, environmental and space scientists.

The center, he explained, would among other responsibilities undertake "a comprehensive inventory of available human capacity and infrastructure for basic space science in Nigeria; coordinate the various research interests of Nigerian scientists in the area of Basic Space Science; and acquire facilities for the popularization of space science in the country; develop techniques to manage the data from the Nigeria Sat-1 and other future satellites for benefits in areas of atmospheric and space science application."

Other roles the center is expected to play include to "design and fabricate instruments and systems relevant to basic space science and technology, which include basic space observation instruments (e.g. telescopes, cameras mirror systems); sensors and payload systems on satellites, collaborative projects on radio and optical astronomy, solar physics and atmospheric sciences with international space technology organizations and institutions; and procure basic equipment needed for research, data acquisition, processing and analysis."

The Minister who also declared open a workshop on Basic Space Science for participants from all the Federal Universities in the country, stressed the need to harmonize research works in order to maximize the use of existing facilities and resources, and charged the workshop participants to model ways to advance the space programmes. He assured that their recommendation would receive the attention of the government.

In his speech, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Chinedu Nebo, said the university was privileged to have the Basic Space Centre sited in the campus, and promised to give the center the necessary support and cooperation for their effective performance.

Applauding the tremendous and sustained effort in the development of Space Science and Technology in the country, Nebo advised that the incredible dynamism observed within the global family of space scientists should be experienced in the country. "Any lag on our part in Nigeria to give Space Science its due recognition and attention would pose a threat to our own survival as a country," he said.

Also speaking, director of the center, Professor P.N. Okeke, extolled all those who contributed towards the establishment of the center, which he said has given the country a direction in the area of Basic Space Science.