NigComSat nightmare
•Nigeria’s satellite ambitions become an economic drain
As Nigeria struggles to judiciously utilise its scarce resources in an era of shrinking revenues, the spectacular failure of its vaunted satellite programme to live up to its promises has become an issue of pressing concern.
NigComSat-1 was launched in May 2007 to provide communications on the Ku-Band, Ka-Band and C-Band, as well as navigational services, over a period of 15 years. It was supposed to usher in a golden era in which the many benefits of satellite technology would be reaped to the benefit of the country: an expansion of e-commerce, e-learning and e-government; significant reductions in the cost of bandwidth which would in turn boost education, security and communication; the development of highly-skilled manpower in cutting-edge disciplines.
These lofty dreams have apparently failed to live up to reality. Perhaps the greatest disappointment lies in the refusal of local business to avail itself of NIGCOMSAT Limited, the government-owned satellite operator. Even though financial institutions, cable television companies and manufacturing firms consume huge amounts of bandwidth, most of them appear to have opted for foreign satellite companies. Deals with the military and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have not come to fruition, allegedly due to infrastructural deficiencies and fiscal challenges.
This lamentable lack of indigenous patronage is seen in NIGCOMSAT’s poor revenues. In 2011, it made N36 million; N38 million in 2012, and N262 million in 2013. Compared to the company’s enormous wage bill, this income is insignificant: N1.3 billion in 2011, N2.2 billion in 2012, and N2.3 billion proposed for 2016.
The Nation warned against these problems in its “Footprints in Space” editorial at the time: “the Federal Government needs to be much more explicit about how satellite technology is linked to its development objectives. It is surprising that very little has been said about exactly how the country’s increased satellite presence will play into national educational, medical, agricultural, aviation and other policies. Such silence is mystifying when it is compared to the publicity that traditionally attends the nation’s satellite launches.” Tragically, that warning went unheeded.
A nation notorious for its logistical shortcomings should have been more careful in embarking on an adventure in space. If the relatively simpler tasks of producing refined petroleum products and ensuring regular electricity and water supply cannot be undertaken successfully, what was the guarantee that Nigeria could become a satellite superpower?
The country must now seek to do what it should have done from the start: establish processes and procedures that enable it to fully benefit from NigComSat-1R, the successor satellite built by China when NigComSat-1 deorbited in November 2008. The capacity of NIGCOMSAT Limited to efficiently provide the services required by Nigeria’s businesses, schools and armed forces must be properly established. Routing and switching systems are said to be inadequate; they must be provided; service and payload network operations centres should be completed; the hundreds of Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) allegedly kept in containers must be deployed and installed.
The staffing of NIGCOMSAT Limited must be overhauled with the aim of trimming down its bloated management staff and reconfiguring its marketing and engineering divisions. Government agencies should be directed to make NIGCOMSAT their first option for satellite services, as should joint-venture concerns, government-owned educational institutions, research institutes and the military. Plans to contract debts of up to U.S. $700 million for the construction of two new satellites must be put on hold until NigComSat-1R begins to turn a profit.
If Nigeria has learnt anything from its economic travails, it is that the culture of waste and incompetence can no longer continue. There is no crime in solving terrestrial problems using celestial approaches as long as everything is done to ensure that initial expectations are fully realised.