LETS TALK ABOUT SPACE SHALL WE? AN UPDATE ON THE NIGERIAN SPACE PROGRAMS

Hello and welcome to the blog!

In a previous post, I had written about the Nigerian space program and I am quite impressed by the response this post has gotten and the questions that came up thereafter. So, thank you all very much for reading and for sharing your thoughts.

On today’s post, I would like to give an update about the Nigerian space sector and also address some of the questions I got from the post of the 12^th of May 2020, most of which are criticisms about the inefficiency of the Nigerian space programs and its expenditures which have not yielded any benefits. The following paragraphs should permit the reader to come to their own conclusion as to whether Nigeria needs to continue to advance its space capabilities.

Before going into the questions, I will like to share my thoughts on what I think is most pertinent on the subject matter in a quote. “While Nigeria has a lot to offer Nigerians, Africans and the world in general, it must first overcome its attitude towards change and development and adopt a winning mentality. For this, it must seek to construct a balanced economic system which preserves its great minds and ends the challenges of brain drain with a backdrop to move towards brain gain.”

The recently inaugurated leadership of the National Space Research and Development Agency to consolidate the agency’s operations as well as drive the objectives for establishing the agency. The new acting Director-General who was appointed in May has affirmed his commitment to reviewing the National Space Policy and Strategy and to ensure that the direction of the Nigerian space program is refocused towards its initial objective.

In an interview with Space in Africa, the Acting Director-General said that one of his first duties would be to set up necessary committees with the approval of the agency’s board and legislative council. The new leadership will revise the space document as a form of an evaluation process that will determine the achievements and failings of the policy and how it tallies with current needs and events.

The major thrust of the new policy would be to vigorously pursue the attainment of space capabilities as an essential tool for the socio-economic development of the nation and the advancement of the quality of life for Nigerians. The tripartite policy would focus on building a Nigerian satellite, launching the satellite in Nigeria, and the pursuit of indigenous creation of rockery vehicle that Nigeria will use for the launch of the spacecraft. To this end, in order to achieve this goal, Nigeria must not only propose these changes, it must also embrace the process, embrace its past mistake and learn from them, involve all relevant stakeholders and actually change its approach to achieve these goals which has been set out so that a repetition of the inability to achieve most of the goals on the 25-year strategic map would not be repeated. In this wise, the next section of the work details the conversation between stakeholders in the Nigerian space sector in order to initiate a discussion towards eliminating the challenges faced in this sector.

Following weeks after this inauguration, I was lucky to have spoken to three brilliant minds who hold prominent positions in the Nigerian Space programs and have worked on both domestic and international planes, seen various space dealings, drawing conclusions as to the right approach to promote efficiency and profitability and in the end, we agreed that as Nigeria looks to the future, it must effectively utilize its natural endowments to earn its badge of honor as a space capable country, with an initial focus on the downstream impact of the technology. Thus, it would need to retool its own science and technology (S&T) capabilities and utilize these assets to enhance its economic development and improve the wellbeing of its people.

As I lay conclusions to the preceding paragraphs, I must also suggest further reading on “Nigeria’s space journey- understanding its pasts and reshaping its future” by Dr Adigun Ade Abiodun which has shone the light on the successes and missteps of the Nigerian space programs with a subtle reprimand of those “Who hold the reins of power and, by sheer neglect allowed a promising path bursting with potential to fall into ruin.”

With the points shared, do you still hold the view that Nigeria needs to diversify its funding apportioned to the Nigerian space agency into attaining other sustainable development goals at this time or its approach to further its space capabilities should prevail?

Thank you for taking out time to read and share this post. Should you have any questions, comments or suggestions, do not hesitate to use the comment box.

Please follow my discussions on my LinkedIn account at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayomide-a-jide-omole-062633112 

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