by Richard Akindele » Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:10 am
I JUST read an opinion that tried to justify the recent loss of a Nigerian communications satellite and supports the government's continuance of the satellite programme in the Vanguard of 18th December 2008. I have read other similar opinions, including the one by Prof Borofice, the NIGCOMSAT DG. There have also been some opposing views.
The question I want to put to supporters of NIGCOMSAT is: Why is it that while the satellite was in orbit and supposedly operational we still had serious problems with bandwidth in the telecommunications sector.
In many countries today voice over internet protocol, which costs a fraction of GSM and CDMA has become the mode of choice, especially for long distance calls, but not in Nigeria, despite the investment in the satellite.
The opinion writer in the Vanguard believes that it is a blessing for Nigeria to be one of the 45 countries that has a satellite in space and one of the 17 that have more than one payload. In all those countries you can bet that they do not depend on foreign expertise to build their own roads, railways, power stations, refineries, satellites for that matter, etc and maintains same without foreign help. These countries have numerate populations.
Nigeria is still struggling with literacy, not to talk of numeracy, the universal backbone of technology. There is no time consciousness in our planning, both as individuals and as a nation. In the nation's schools and colleges technical education is at a low ebb and those that manage to graduate have no industry waiting to take them. Most Nigerians who have global competences in technical fields such as aviation, aerospace, shipping, medicine, etc are working in foreign countries.
We have great difficulty doing basic services such as patching potholes on our roads, laying out streets neatly, lighting up streets at night, disposing of refuse, getting the Police to scene of crime on time. In Nigeria, a building demolition is national news, with the governor in attendance, clearing our imported goods from the ports.
These are matters that require elementary precision. You do not have to be an Einstein to perform them efficiently and they are taken for granted in other countries but Nigeria has proved itself congenitally incompetent in doing them.
A communication firm has just bought units of very bulky outside broadcast equipment that are probably army surplus and it is big news and is being advertised as a major step forward. Building a road, an airport or expanding an existing one is a big deal that comes with much political fanfare, rather than as part of routine progressive development of infrastructure.
We hire foreigners to investigate air disasters and bomb blasts in a munitions depot and afterwards are too embarrassed to make the investigation reports public. To be talking about launching satellites when we cannot guarantee eight hours of electricity supply to our homes, factories and industries is to say the least a little far-fetched and something of a luxury. I suspect that the writer in Vanguard must have mistaken mockery by his foreign friends for congratulations, else he was being economical with the truth.
.I have nothing against Professor Borofice's efforts to launch Nigeria into the space age. By all means he should continue his research and keep hope alive but it will be wrong for him to think that political support alone is all he needs to succeed in the satellite programme.
The universal approach would be that such things will evolve naturally and sustainably with the progressive advancement of the society as a whole. He should avoid the sociological trap into which many a Nigerian tend to fall: Once they find themselves at the upper reaches of the social and/or professional pyramid they tend to allow themselves to disconnect with the general population at the lower parts, making it possible to live in an elite dreamworld that has no bearing with reality.
Normally a space programme is something that should galvanize the public and inspire the youth scientifically but, of course, the bulk of Nigerians are too busy trying to survive to care. The few who know think of the project team more as cranks than as people engaged in a serious endavour. However one looks at it the loss of the satellite is not reassuring, especially given the country's circumstances and also given the questions of transparency that are being asked about the project. There are good grounds for reservations and skepticism about the satellite project.
•Lt. Col. Egbe-Ulu(rtd) writes from Lagos.