NASRDA mulls Geo – Stationary Satellite to fight maritime insecurity

…decries lack of patronage of homegrown technology

By Musa Baba Adamu

The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) , declared in Abuja on Thursday that 90% of security challenges facing the maritime sector in Nigeria can be tackled by Geo – Stationary Satellite .
The declaration was made by the newly appointed Director General of the Space and Research Agency , Dr Olumide Mathew Adepoju during screening exercise of his appointment by the Senate Committee on Innovation , Science and Technology .
Dr Adepoju at the Screening appointment screening exercise , however lamented non patronage of Home grown technology in the country by relevant authorities and Nigerians .
He told the committee chaired by Senator Aminu Iya Abbas ( PDP Adamawa Central) , that the Geo – Stationary Satellite if embraced by all stakeholders in the maritime sector , will fill in the gap for the needed Maritime Domain Awareness for all manner of planned crimes and possibility of nipping them in the bud.
“ For us at NASRDA, we are ready to collaborate and synergize with critical stakeholders in the maritime sector on the need to curb all manner of crimes in the sector.
“ The most important thing device to use is Geo – Stationary Satellite , which would help to give the required Maritime Domain Awareness for the various key players through synthetical factor reading .“ For effective use of the Geo – Stationary Satellite , cooperation and synergy are already being worked on between us and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency ( NIMASA), Nigerian Communication Satellite System ( NigComSat) , National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA ) etc “, he said .
He however lamented that homegrown technologies put forward through innovations and inventions , are seldomly patronized by relevant authorities and Nigerians .
“ We have inbuilt capacity at NASRDA but the culture of not patronizing ourselves in Nigeria , make results from such capacities , uncelebrated .
“ We can work together with the security agencies through our home grown solution which is not patronize .
“ Aside that , the problem of acute shortage of office space for about 70 % of NASRDA staff , is also inhibiting them from giving their best because out of 5, 200 staff , less than 30% has office space “, he lamented .
In his remarks , the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Aminu Iya Abbas , told the nominee , that when confirmed by the Senate as substantive Director General of NASRDA, he should make the Space Center , a Centre of Excellence .
“ Go for talent hunting because we have not seen much in the area of human development . Develop in – house capacity . Pay attention to staff development “, he said.