NIGERIAN SPACE LAW AND POLICY

Hello and welcome to the blog!

On this 3-part series, I am excited to discuss the Nigerian national space law and policy.
 

Today, we shall be having a discussion on the Nigerian Space Legislation and its development.

                           

The obligation to enact a national law and policy guidelines is imposed via the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty). The provisions of this Treaty is discussed in a later post.

By virtue of Article VI of the Outer Space treaty, 

“…[S]tate parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty. The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial body, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty.”


                                            

With the vision to “Attain space capabilities as an essential tool to improve the quality of life of its people,” Nigeria, after acceding to the Outer Space Treaty on 14 November 1967 started using satellite-based infrastructure to advance its economy before it made its technological aspirations known to the Economic Community of Africa at an inter-governmental meeting in Addis Ababa in 1976 which would later lead to the setting up of a National Committee on Space applications in 1987.

The establishment of the National Space Research and Development Agency as a small research institution on 5 May 1999 and the Government’s approval of the National Space Policy in 2001 marked the turning point in Nigeria’s space ambitions as it became the second leading spacefaring Nation from the developing world and the second Country in Africa to enact a National law addressing the role of private actors in its space industry.

Allied enactments to the Space Act are the Nigerian domestic statutes applicable to insurance, communication, intellectual property, database protection, registration of companies, exports controls, firearms and national Geo-information.


                                            

Nigeria is a member of UNCOPOUS, ITU and UNIDROIT is also party to all the Space Treaties except the Moon Agreement; has its National law mainly structured upon the international obligations under the Outer Space Treaty, the Liability Convention and the Registration Convention. It is also notable that some of the Provisions contained in the UK Space Industry Act (1986) was adopted by the Nigerian Legislature. 

On 27 August 2010, The National Space Research and Development Act which formally establishes the Agency, and empowers the National Space Council as the regulatory and supervisory entity for space activities in Nigeria was adopted. The Act applies to all space activities within Nigeria by both citizens and non‐citizens.

Also, the Act grants the Council power to grant licenses to “Any person or Corporate body for activities relating to the repository of satellite data over Nigeria’s territory, and collaborations and consultation in space data related matter” upon the recommendation of the Agency.

The NASRDA Act is divided into 6 parts and 37 sections which include the Transfer of Ownership in Space or Space Object Control, Liability and insurance, Authorization and Licensing, Regulation of Space objects launch and return and the maintenance of a national registry.

The most important parts to Nigeria’s international obligations are its Part One, Part Two and Part Three which formally establishes the agency and the National Space Council (NSC) and further provides for the remuneration, and tenure of office of Council members amongst other allied matters provision; gives the Agency its functions while establishing the power of the National Space Council and mandates the register of Space objects.

                                    

Parts Four to Six provides for the Staff of the agency, the Director General’s duties, tenure and qualification; funding of the agency and allied financial issues and contains miscellaneous provisions on pre-action notice requirement, the Agency’s power to acquire property, make Regulations respectively.

Specifically, Section 9 and 10 of the Act places particular emphasis on the mitigation of Space debris. (This is also discussed in another post).

To this end, “A licensee is required to conduct its operations in such a way as to prevent the contamination of outer space or cause any adverse changes in the environment of the Earth, to avoid interference with the activities of others States involved in the peaceful exploration of outer space and, to govern the disposal of the payload in outer space on the termination of operations.”

 The NASRDA Act does not establish any substantive decision regarding responsibility and liability. However, the Draft Regulations which are expected to replace the Act upon implementation by the National Assembly provides for substantial handling of international third-party liabilities. (The draft regulation is discussed in another post).

                                        

The current focus of the space program involves development in Earth observation and communication satellites. Consequently, Nigeria has launched five satellites: NigeriaSat-1, NigeriaSat-2, NigeriaSat-X, NigComSat-1, and NigComSat-1R.

The Federal government in 2006 approved the 25-year strategic roadmap for space research and development in Nigeria. Some of the major benchmarks of the roadmap were as follows:

 TABLE 1: THE 25-YEAR ROAD MAP

YEAR	GOAL	ACHIEVED
2011	NigeriaSat-2, Nigeriasat-X	YES
2015	Training Nigerian Astronauts	NO
2018	Developing and building domestic Satellites	YES
2025	Development of a rocketry propulsion system	ON SCHEDULE
2026	Spin-off of allied industries- electronics, software	IN PLAN
2028	Large scale commercialization of space technology and know-how	POLICY REVIEW
2030	Launch of Nigerian Satellites from a Nigerian Launch pad.	IN PLAN

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