Guardian

FOR improved service delivery across all sectors of the economy, the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) has recommended the usage of the country’s satellite facility—NigComSat-1R for Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and the private sectors.

Already, investment in NigComSat -1R, is in the billions of naira and experts believed that with such facility can aid Nigeria joined the developed world through the vision 20.20.20 agenda.

Indeed, the President of NSE, Mustapha B. Shehu, who called for full usage of the satellite, when he led the society’s executives on a facility tour of NIGCOMSAT at the ground control station in Abuja, said proper maximization of the facility would make the country more competitive.

Shehu, an engineer, told reporters after the visit that “I am quite impressed with what we have seen here today” adding that the Federal Government would do the citizens a world of good if it puts in place policies that could encourage Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to leverage on what NIGCOMSAT has for the benefit of the people.

“The Federal Government which came up with this project means well and after spending huge sums of money, cannot allow this to go the Ajaokuta Steel way”, Shehu explained.

He also called on the State Governments, Organised Private Sector (OPs) to patronise the NIGCOMSAT facilities if they must join the rest of the world in technology acquisition and economic emancipation.

The society has expressed absolute confidence in NigComSat’s resolve to bringing affordable broadband access to the Nigerian populace.

The delegation, after embarking on an extensive tour of the facilities where the operations of NigComSat-1R, the geostationary satellite launched in December 2011 is being closely monitored and sustained by Nigerian engineers thanks to the knowledge transfer of technology by the Chinese people,said they were satisfied with what they saw on ground.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, Managing Director of NigComSat Ltd, Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai told the group of the capabilities of the Micro-Electronic Centre(MEC) and the Direct to Home(DTH) satellite broadcasting platform which enables viewers to receive a minimum of 200 to 300 channels.

He  assured the engineers that when fully deployed, content providers would have an opportunity to ride on the platform and leverage its use to revolutionise the broadcasting media in Nigeria and contribute immensely to the improvement of broadcasting in general especially that we have a few year to migrate to digital broadcasting.

The group which also included Olumuyiwa Ajibola, the immediate past president; raised questions on the technical capacity, durability, life span of NigComSat-1R and projections on revenue generation for the nation.

Responding,Rufai said the satellite has a life-span of 15 years plus and was in a very robust position to meet the needs of Nigerians adding that the DTH alone could generate an average of N20billion for the country if the right policies are put in place.

They also decried the heavy dependence on foreign satellites by the private and public sectors.

Studies show Nigeria’s sharp decline in the global competitive index in the last 5 years such as security, education and infrastructure.

NigComSat-1R is a national infrastructural backbone and should be seen as such.

It will be recalled that last year, NSE successfully deployed the use of e-voting system designed by Nigerian engineers at NigComSat to elect executive officers in Ilorin, proving the credibility and potential capability of the system for large number of groups and communities. The group prescribed the e-voting platform to the country for the future elections.