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Nigeria’s New National Space Council: Matters Arising

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By Makinde Collins

“We must evolve clear cut initiatives that will not only fast track our industrialization process but one that will also see us within the shortest possible period to be able to build our own motor vehicles, our own boats and our own aircraft and of course launch our own satellite manufactured in Nigeria, from a launch site in Nigeria on a launch vehicle made in Nigeria,” these were the words of President Goodluck Jonathan last week’s Tuesday as he formally inaugurated a 13-member National Space Council (NSC), headed by him as Chairman and Vice President Namadi Sambo as Vice-Chairman.

The Federal Government rolled out plans to use space technology to enhance national security, communication, industrialisation and sustained socio-economic development is a welcome initiative and Nigerians must rally round the government.

Since the Russians launched SPUTNIK into the orbit in 1957, space exploration and the exploitation of space resources have become dominant factors in communication, national security, natural resources management, prediction, navigation and management of natural disasters.

The spin-offs of space exploration are generating new products, new ideas and solutions in medicine, manufacturing industry, agriculture, microwave engineering, food technology and material science. Thus space technology can impact on the socio-economic development of any nation when integrated into the development strategy.

However, It is well commendable that the Federal Government is tapping into this by  targeting industrial breakthrough in space technology in  its bid to stimulate socioeconomic development as well as enhanced security measures.

One must commend the President for coming up with this initiative, considering the fact that the critical need to properly structure and drive our national space programme cannot be over-emphasized given the critical place of space technology in the areas of national security, communications, industrialization and sustained socioeconomic development.

There is need for aggressive awareness campaign on the importance of space technology in the country.

On May 24, Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, said that the Federal Government needed $ 244 million to install electronic surveillance round the country’s borders.

He said the amount, if available, would be enough to provide security around the country’s borders. This is a welcome measure that ought to have been taken much earlier by the Federal Government, but National Space Council (NSC) must pay attention to Global Positioning System (GPS).

GPS, according to Wikipedia, is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.

The system provides critical capabilities to military, civil and commercial users around the world. It is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.

Currently GPS is the most popular navigation system in the world, but it has some shortcomings. GPS was created by the Defence ministry of the USA and America can switch it off or make signal worse for some regions if they decide that it is necessary to secure their interests. In this case they don’t inform users. Such decision can paralyse all navigation services if a country uses only one system. To avoid it, countries should have an opportunity to use different navigation systems. Now there are some navigation systems in the world. For example Russia and Europe are developing their own navigation systems GLONAS and Galileo, respectively.

Russia which is one of the main partners of China in BRICS is ready to cooperate with different countries to provide better services for them. If Nigeria uses both GPS and GLONAS it will have a guaranty that the national navigation system is operational in any possible situation in the region.

Even American experts admit that GLONAS receivers can provide better precision, than GPS. Russian system GLONAS can be used on free of charge base for civil purposes and GLONAS devices can receive signals both from GPS and GLONAS.

Russia can grant access to civil navigation signals of GLONAS without any restriction. For further cooperation Russia can provide all necessary data to help organize manufacture of GLONAS/GPS devices in Nigeria as well as conduct training of national experts and specialists in navigation sphere.

Nigeria needs relevant satellites and sensor platforms and applications to tackle its problems and President Jonathan reposed the council with the responsibility of coming up with an action plan that will enable the country utilize space technology to accelerate industrial development quickly, so that Nigeria will not only venture into space but also manufacture boats, aircraft and other things.

Due to the low level of awareness and misconceptions many have viewed Nigeria going to space as needless venture, but it will interest you to know that Nigerian engineers and scientists trained in the past 14 years in the space programme rank among the best in Africa.

Irrespective of the fact that Nigeria is a developing country and lack competent manpower in space research and development, a few modest achievements have been recorded by the country through international collaborations with space technology developed countries and companies all over the world.

Nigeria has good experience of cooperation in this sphere with Russia and China which launched NigeriaSat-2, NigeriaSat-X and NigComSat-1R.

If Nigeria continues to cooperate with these countries it can help Nigeria to increase the number of satellites during a short period of time. Nigeria signed an agreement with Russia and China about cooperation in mutual space development. This agreement can help Nigeria to train its experts, to design, to launch, to operate and to utilise satellites together with Russia.

Nigeria, therefore, needs to embrace and incorporate the use of satellite technology-based solutions. However, in order to incorporate the use of satellite for disaster management, there is a need to increase awareness, build national capacity and develop satellite applications.

Nigerian authorities should activate cooperation with international partners in space technology that will help to develop the economy of the country and to attract new investments in the country.

•Collins is Lagos-based public analyst. Email: [email protected]

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Nigeria News

Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Nigeria News

Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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