Nigeria, 09 May 2007: Nigeria has put a major step in advancing the country’s space technology in Africa with President Olusegun Obasanjo commissioning the Nigerian Space Centre (NSC).
The centre is said to be the first space centre in Africa, has a ground control station/ network operation centre for communications satellites. It houses the ground receiving station for earth observation satellites; and contains the first phase of the Satellite Design Centre/Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test Centre.
The President Olusegun Obasanjo, who noted that the establishment of the National Space Technology Centre was critical to the development of space technology in Nigeria and Africa as a whole, said the event marked another milestone in the country’s quest to optimise the use of science and technology to promote sustainable national development and improved quality of life for the people. He continued,”It is imperative therefore to integrate space technology applications into the various stages of our sustainable development efforts.
“The Federal Government took a bold step by embarking on satellite systems development through the establishment of the National Space Research and Development Agency in 1999 and the approval of the National Space Policy and Programme in 2001. This effort resulted in the launch of the first earth observation satellite, NigeriaSat-1, in September 2003.
“By this unique achievement, Nigeria has registered not only its footprint in space but also its name as a satellite data provider. I am informed that the satellite is performing well and has captured over 2,000 images covering the entire country and different parts of the world”, the President added.
