Nigeria’s satellites cannot track Chibok girls, insurgents –Muhammed, NASRDA boss

Posted by admin Borno, Headlines, State News Friday, May 9th, 2014

Director General, National Space Research Development Agency, Prof. Seidu Muhammed in this interview with EVEREST AMAEFULE, addresses talks about the activities of the agency and why its satellites can’t track Chibok girls

It is now 11 years since Nigeria launched an earth observation satellite – the NigeriaSat-1. How do you assess the odyssey to the space?

In the last 12 years, the space agency has given a good account of itself. From a humble beginning of only a national centre of remote sensing, with emphasis on capacity building; today, we have established other centres of excellence. One is a centre where we design and build satellites. Number two is a centre for geodesy and geodynamics which today prides itself as the most reliable centre supplying coastal information from the African continent. We have just finished the first four years of collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and we have just renewed our collaboration for another four years which will be on till 2018.

We also have a centre for space technology education and because of our prominence at the committee on peaceful uses of outer space, it now doubles as a centre for space technology education for English speaking Africa domiciled at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife. I am happy to say that both long term and short term courses run at the centre having over 300 Africans. A chunk of that number- about 200 are Nigerians in key strategic areas – satellite communication, remote sensing and geographic information system, and other areas which ordinarily would have cost several thousands of dollars.

In addition to that, we also have a centre for rocketry which we hope; based on our strategic roadmap for the 25-year development, will help this country in launching satellite. Emphasis at the moment has been on capacity building and preparing our people for the onerous task ahead of us. We are building capacity across the world; from notable centres in the United States, in the UK, in China and at home here.

We also have other centres. One of them is the centre for atmospheric research. Because of heavy investments in space, everybody across the world is concerned with the amount of dynamics in space and therefore the need to study the weather becomes inevitable. Because of this, most centres around the world are working together. In the last two years, because of this centre; our colleagues (space agencies around the world) have donated to us a number of instruments. One of the instruments donated by the Japanese space agency has a street value of $2.1m. The Boston College also donated to us a smaller version which cost about $600,000.

Besides these, we currently have on the campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, a centre for basic space science and astronomy where we are building the second largest telescope in Africa. We are also helping other universities in the country in the training of professional astronomers.

You have been talking about activities in the space industry; can we get it down to NigeriaSat-1. Eleven years ago, it was launched and many Nigerians cannot relate with the benefits of this spacecraft. They don’t know how it has impacted on their lives. In fact, Nigerians are of the opinon that your activites have not impacted on their lives. How do you explain this?

Let me tell you; space science and technology are specialised fields. NigeriaSat-1 was launched several years back, in 2003. It was initially designed for a lifespan of five years. Because we have good management skills; we had good international collaborators and we were also lucky that the satellite lasted for eight and half to nine years.

During that period, images across this country were downloaded extensively. The images have been used for various scientific purposes in this country. The images have been made available to researchers in various universities who ordinarily, would have paid several millions of dollars to import such images if we didn’t have that satellite. We have also carried out projects of national significance. One of them is the national land use cover map which is a resource inventory of this country.

You recall that in 1995/96; the Ministry of Environment carried out a resource inventory. At that time, it took a World Bank grant of $3m. It also brought consultants from Canada. When we completed a similar project using images from NigeriaSat-1, three years after we did not have to take loan from any World Bank. We did not have to buy images. In addition to that, we developed indigenous competence that enabled us to carry out this project both at the space agency and in various universities in this country. From that single project, we saved more than $10m for this country.

The satellite has also helped us to be a member of the international disaster charter. What that means is that we make available five per cent of our capacity to intervene in any part of the world when there is disaster, be it flooding, tsunami, volcanic eruption and other related problems. Through that, we have also benefitted enormously from various interventions when there was flooding in this country. As a member of that body, we also invoke the charter and the next available satellite including our own or any of our colleagues will acquire data which are made available. We have been able to intervene in a number of disasters across the world. We were there during the tsunami in Southeast Asia. We were there in Australia during the fire outbreak. We were there during the flooding of Katrina and several others across the world.

We have not only covered this country; we have also covered the whole of Africa. What that means is that the directive of the president through NEPAD has enabled NASRDA to make some of these images available to the whole of Africa as part of our contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. We have enabled many countries in Africa to acquire data.

We have helped several countries – Africa; beyond Africa. Are we Father Christmas? What is in it for us?

We are not Father Christmas. The fact still remains that as we get help, certainly we also need to help others. We are a member of the New African Initiatives. We are a member of the African Resource Monitoring Constellation. What that means is that Africa must be able to work together in generating data for research and encouraging education in Africa.We must also realise that by virtue of our population, we are more than 50 per cent of the population of West Africa and even Africa; we are a significant chunk. Therefore, a country like ours should be able to export its own technology to attract buyers. The moment most of Africa can use our satellite effectively, it means they can also buy from us. It is not every time we give out free. We can also sell.

Have we been selling? And what have we got from selling these satellite images?

Yes, for NigeriaSat-1; we sold several satellite images. The last two years before the deorbiting under my leadership, we sold and remitted to the federation account, £300,000. The receipt is there. It was remitted to the treasury. But we must also realise the fact that technology at the beginning is not just about money.

We look at it in terms of the capacity that it has built at home. We know how many students that have been able to use it in Nigerian universities. Two, the ability of average farmers to benefit from the maps produced from these images cannot be quantified in terms of naira and kobo. Third, the extent of research carried out; the number of PhD graduates from Nigerian universities using satellite images can also not be quantified in terms of naira and kobo.

It has also created indigenous competence that has evolved in the subsequent satellites – the Nigerian communications satellite, NigerianSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X which we built and designed ourselves. If we had not tried, it would have been impossible to get them to do all these.

Let us take you to those two satellites you mentioned – NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X; we have those two satellites in the orbit and right now, what is on the lip of every Nigerian is the abducted Chibok school girls. Nigerians expect that these two satellites we have in the space should be able to locate where the insurgents are keeping those girls. Why are our two earth observation satellites not helping us?

The fact still remains that NigeriaSat-X has been used to acquire data covering the whole of this country. As we speak, these have been made available to all the major stakeholders in this country including Nigerian universities, researchers, people in environment and several others.

We have also used NigeriaSat-2 to acquire data over this country and we must realise that NigeriaSat-2 has surd of about 20 kilometres. What that means is that it takes a long time to cover the whole country. Also, because it is an optical satellite, it does not penetrate through the cloud. Effectively in a year, we can only acquire data for just about three months. The greater part of the Northeast has been covered and the images are available and have been given to stakeholders who require them. Let me also quickly tell you that these issues are security issues. I am not competent to speak on those issues. But as far as I am concerned, the satellites have been put in use. Data over these areas and the rest of the country have been acquired and have been made available to all the major stakeholders.

Let me use this opportunity to also clear doubts. Our attention has been drawn to statements credited to various persons in the television and the other media. NigeriaSat-2 is not a video hanging in the orbit.

Yes, but it has three cameras.

Yes; it has cameras. The cameras on it are blue, green, red and near infrared. What that means is that it is able to take images in this country with resolving power of 2.5 metres resolution; and also five metres in multispectral band. The issue is that it is not a video that you can put on to track terrorists or criminals. It is not capable of tracking a migrant militant. What that means is that it has defined path through which it goes. If a satellite is at this point today in Abuja, it will take another four days to come back to this same point.

What that means is that the terrorist moving in the bush every 15 minutes or 30 minutes cannot be tracked using that. But there are several other uses. You can use this same satellite to upgrade the maps and create settlements because there are a lot of information that this kind of business require. For example, this (showing) is the Nigerian satellite atlas where the true colour of every village is acquired. This has helped to a large extent people in the academia, the armed forces and other securities agencies, people in environment and people in agriculture.

Let me also say one thing. Very often, people ask us: there was plane crash somewhere; why are we not able to see it? It does not work that way. What we have in the orbit is like a camera. When there is a car crash in Lokoja, for example, it is not easy for you to know until you are told in terms of longitude and latitude. Then we can acquire the image of that place. That aircraft normally comes with a beacon so that in the event of a crash event, it is related to coastal satellite that is able to calculate the latitude and longitude – not the normal optical satellite in the orbit. It is not meant for that.

Let me give an illustration. The recent Malaysian aircraft that crashed in the ocean; up till now, the whole world has been at work and nobody has been able to locate it. It is good that we state some of these issues so that Nigerians understand clearly. If that event were to be in Nigeria, they would say, ‘bring the head or the DG of the space agency’. That is not the issue.

In addition to that; with over 400 satellites that America has, it has been battling with the Talibans in the last four, five years. Americans have not been able to locate where the terrorists are. But satellite can help. It is a convergence of several technologies. In recent times, if you look at the issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan, most of the technology being used in addition to others is drone. Drone, which is unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of providing almost real time information. The information is sent back to command and control centre which can be processed to find out and see movements and then do information extraction, image processing and the rest of them. In addition to that, contacts are on the ground, providing strategic information on where the criminals are hiding or if it is the leader they are looking for; how they can bomb them. This is the technology being used all over the world.

Are you suggesting that we should deploy drones instead of looking up to the satellite?

As I said, satellites have their own specialised uses. We have used them to produce settlement maps. We have used them to produce atlas maps. We have used other types of satellites for digital elevation models. All these are important in offices but real time information cannot be provided because a satellite has defined paths in which it moves. Even if you bring a constellation of six satellites, it will take a minimum of three hours and within those three hours, the criminals would have moved from one location to another. So, a situation like this it should be complemented by drones to provide real time information through which the officers and men saddled with such responsibility can take informed decisions.

But during the issue we had in Baga, you used the satellite to debunk the claims of Human Rights Watch that 2,400 houses had been burnt by the military in that area.

This was because Baga is geo-located. It has a latitude and a longitude in terms of location. That makes it very easy for anybody to acquire such data and because we are talking of buildings, it was easy for us to count the number of buildings involved and see the fire scars. It is different from tracking a terrorist that is migrating every 15 or 30 minutes. The satellite is not designed for that. But in the case of similar issues; getting an update on developments in Abuja; from time to time, satellite is good for that. Looking at land use and development in the country; satellite is good for that because it is geo-located. And you can always acquire such images and see what has taken place in the last three years, compare them; in terms of building, road infrastructure and others but for a moving object, it is not possible because the satellite is not a video.

So, in the same vein, are you saying we cannot use satellites to monitor our pipelines because that is another area that Nigerians have expected the satellites to be useful?

There is also a fundamental information that we need to give to Nigerians. The satellite we have at the moment has 2.5 metre resolution in the black and white mode and five metres in the multispectral mode. What that means is that the revolving power cannot identify a person. This type of satellite is not meant for very high strategic military operations.

Apart from that, several technologies can be used to monitor pipelines; not a satellite of this nature. What it means is like I told you; it has a defined path through which it moves. We have made recommendations in the past to the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation on what can be used to monitor pipelines. One, they require high pressure sensors and a specialised kind of satellite that could be launched in the low earth orbit, coordinating some of the data being related from the sensors along the pipelines. It is not a normal kind of satellite, the type we have. It is good for people to clearly understand the technical implication of some statements they make. And in that light, NigeriaSat-X with 20 metre resolution and NigeriaSat-2 with 2.5 and five metre resolutions cannot do this kind of operation. We require a specialised kind of satellite; not this type.

So what is the level of cooperation you have with Nigerian security agencies in the troubled regions of Nigeria?

Really, like I said; these are security matters. I am not competent to speak on them. But as much as possible, we are a government department. If they call on us, we will attend to them any time.

Many Nigerians still believe that those that built our satellites are the ones controlling them and they are the ones benefitting from them. What do you say to this?

That is not true. We have two sets of people that have supported us over the time. One is the Surrey Satellite Technologies Limited of the United Kingdom. They helped us in building Sat-1. They also supported us in building Sat-2 and through their support, our engineers designed and built Sat-X.

Ordinarily, we still require some level of collaboration with them. These are high technology areas, and for a long time to come; we will continue to seek support not only from the UK but also from other countries that have the competence to support us. We will continue to work together.

All images are downloaded here and are scheduled from here. There is an alternate ground station in the UK. If there is any problem here, we can download there. And if they have problem with their own system, they download here. It has happened several times. These are parts of the memoranda of understanding which we have. In that same vein, the communication satellite with the Chinese; one of the ground stations is in Karchi (China). That is the tradition. That is not to be mistaken that they are taking advantage of or having a monopoly of the use of that satellite. It is not true but also remember that some of these countries we go to; our relationship is a long term relationships because we continue to do things together in terms of capacity building and joint operation. It is not true that because they built satellite for us, they are monopolising it and they are the ones that are enjoying the benefits.

Do we have the capacity to build our satellite? If we have the capacity, when can we build our satellite and launch a satellite from Nigeria?

Some years back, the Federal Executive Council approved a strategic 25-year roadmap for Nigeria. If we look at that, in 2014; a number of activities on that roadmap have been achieved. The activities include launching some of these satellites.

However, remember that we are just 12 years old and several other countries have been in the space. For example, South Africa has been doing astronomy before 1890. In that light, for Nigerians to think that we can do these things overnight will amount to deceiving ourselves. We require time and also realise that we are yet to build an Assembly, Integration and Testing Centre which is the heart of the space programme. It is that centre that we can use in designing and building satellites. We are yet to get that but it is already before government. I hope that in no distant time, we will be able to build that so that our engineers can build satellites at home.

As to whether we have the capacity, that is another question on its own. That has been demonstrated clearly in Sat-X which was designed and built by our engineers using the facilities in the UK. We are happy that on September 17 this year, that satellite would be three years in the orbit. It is something we have been celebrating and it shows how skilful Nigerian engineers are and if given the opportunity, they can do as well as any other engineer from anywhere in the world.

We know that most Nigerians are always negative about their own country. We believe these engineers require their goodwill and we are hopeful that with the efforts being made by government; as soon as the design centre is built, they would be able to build our own satellite here not only in terms of earth observation satellite but also the communications satellite which we all require.

The communication satellite is strategic to our business, not only in Nigeria but the whole of West Africa. You can imagine that most of us in this country today hold a GSM line. If you calculate at the end of the month; the amount of money that goes out as capital flight is colossal. Therefore, we believe that the space programme is not an ego trip. It is relevant to this country and we are happy that in the last 12 years that we started, several other countries in Africa have joined. You can only copy a good thing.

-Punchwp_posts

Short URL: https://newnigerianpolitics.com/?p=36878

Posted by admin on May 9 2014. Filed under Borno, Headlines, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry