Nigeria and its short lived satellite
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The long and short of our memory
Barely eighteen months after the Nigeria communication satellite (NigComSat1) was launched from the Sichuan province of China on may 2007, it was observed that the satellite which allegedly gulped a whooping sum of sum of forty billion naira ($256 billion) has malfunctioned and had to be packed in orbit in order to avoid damage to other satellites. The major concern about the NigComSat1 is its negative impacts on the Nigeria economy and perhaps other African countries on its bands; This is because the NigComSat1, a so called super - hybrid geo – stationary satellite was designed to operate in Africa, middle east and southern Europe.
It has been tradition in Nigeria that whenever something of technological and economical importance is done, one must wonder whether it was that sane thing some people somewhere did long ago without a rat in the nest aftermath. We‘ll keep on asking that is it not a satellite like that of Russians and the United States since 1960s, that stood the test of time? This NigComSat1 which was supposed to span about 15years hardly lasts A year plus! May be we should call this another putrid political plan to enrich the pocket of some people!
Questions need to be asked! Explanations are required; government must explain its responses to International Communication union when the latter announced that the satellite was wrongly positioned shortly after it was launched! What is the federal government doing with the China great wall Industry corporation as regards the terms of insurance for the failed satellite? And what about this alternative satellite request (NigComSat2) to cost #59billion billed for orbit by 2010?
