‘Nigeria Will Have Astronauts by 2015’

In this Interview, Professor Seidu Mohammed, the Director-General  of the National Space Research and Development Agency explains what measures the agency has taken in preventing any death  or disaster from possible flood this year. He further spoke on Nigeria’s quest for the first scientist to go into space, among other issues. Reuben Buhari presents the excerpts:

What are you doing about the application of space science to the socio-economic development of Nigeria?

Since our space agency is the custodian of space assets for the country, we have registered Nigeria
as a member of the Disaster Monitoring International. Since the main focal point of disaster management in Nigeria is the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), we have become a member of this body so that in the event of any national disaster happening in the country, NEMA can invoke the charter so that images or usage of satellites of any of the member nations can be acquired when the coordinates in latitudes and longitudes is given to them, and we have been doing that for years which is a major contribution by NASRDA.

Also, some years back when Gororo Dam in Sokoto broke its bank, within three days images of that place was made available. When Ogunpa flooding in Ibadan happened, within two days satellite images were downloaded, processed by the space agency and given to NEMA in support of the disaster management. This enables NEMA to have clearer picture as to the extent of damage and how to adequately rehabilitate the victims and know exactly who to compensate and who not to.

And as a member of the disaster monitoring international, our satellites were also involved in several activities around the world. Our satellite was part of those monitoring the flood caused by hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. We were part of the fire disaster in Australia in 2008; we were part of several problem solving solutions in South America. So globally we have been participating in solving several problems across the globe which has brought honour to Nigeria.

When the major flooding of 2012 happened, we as a major stakeholder, were able to acquire the images, processed it and gave it to NEMA within just two days and this to a large extent helped NEMA in its rehabilitation in all states within the country that were affected.  We are not just providing meteorological data that would prepare us for disaster but also aiding in monitoring crop yield and carrying out studies of the soil for increased agricultural yield.

What help are you further rendering in order to mitigate the suffering or deaths that could possible arise from future flash floods?

This year, what we did was to bring all the images of 2012 together because in this kind of mapping, you need previous images for comparison. We then got new images from Nigeria’s Sat – 1 and from Sat – 2 which is our current satellite. We also got images from non-Nigerian satellites. Remember that our satellites are optical satellites that don’t have capability to go beyond the clouds. Other members of the Disaster Monitoring International used radar which means that they can penetrate the clouds, and in the raining season most of the southern states, even up to the central states in Nigeria have cloud cover. With these satellites images, we have delineated the boundaries of flood planes and made them available to state governors so that people who are within the flood planes can be evacuated. We are also working synchronously with other agencies in the country. While the metrological unit is predicting much rain, we are using several parameters based on the 2012 images to identify areas to be affected by flood disaster. We are using digital elevation models to project appropriately the houses and other infrastructures that could be affected by flooding and these we have made public so state governments can take proactive actions.

Recently it was said that your agency will collaborate with INEC on delineation of areas and installation of GPS on ballot boxes. What is the status of that collaboration?

Yes, the INEC chairman came to our place and the issue of collaboration was discussed. On the strength of that, INEC has sent in a Memorandum of Understanding which we have looked into and given to our lawyers who have also vetted it and returned it to them. It is just a matter of days now before we can both put our signatures to it. Meanwhile, we have even forwarded to them names of members of our agency that would work with them. As a strategic partner of INEC, we are prepared to support the agency in any way possible by giving it all available geo-information to enable it succeeds.

Do you really think it’s possible to attach GPS to ballot boxes?
Sure. It’s possible. You now have GPS on GSM phones, cars and on several other appliances. That same GPS can be installed on Ballot boxes because it’s basically the same technology that would be used. It is possible to do that for the benefit of Nigeria, her democratic process and the glory of her citizens.

Where does your agency stand in its quest of having the first African scientist in space?
The programme is still on course. By our space roadmap, we are expecting to have our astronauts ready by 2015. We are prepared to send the first African scientist into space for advance level research for the benefit of our country’s national interest.

What is the level of patronage of your satellites images and other forms of data from organisations within Nigeria?

Our society is still at a level where technology has not been mainstreamed as a cultural practise, so we will still give them the benefit of the doubt. However, we thank some few agencies and INEC that have shown tremendous interest in our work and confidence in our ability. INEC has a huge satellite data requirement in terms of delineation, population and digital elevation models. When you put these together, it creates an employment opportunities for engineers and scientists that can create these data for INEC. The pride of a nation is not only getting independence but being able to run things like that and the capability to do that should be in our hands. Engineers and scientists in our space agency have graduated from the best universities in the world and all the nation needs is to challenge them and we are happy that the chairman of INEC is in the forefront of doing that. With that, our engineers and scientist are happy to work with him.

What are the challenges that your agency has been having towards the usage of space technology for the socio-economic development of Nigeria?

All over the world, one of the main users of earth observation satellites are farmers. You will be surprised that even our own previous satellite has a large segment of buyers in Japan that are using it to monitor their farms, but because we in this country don’t have serious commercial farms we don’t used them that much. With Nigerian Sat2 we can help our farmers with it. If you have a large farm, you can come to our agency and give us the latitude and longitude so that we can take image of the farm, look at certain disparities, monitor crop yield and so many other things. Even though the size of our farms are not that big, but as we progress as a nation, with the commitment and good policies coming out of this government, with the minister of agriculture telling the nation that the geometric progression of the population of Nigeria must be matched with enough agricultural produce, it means commercial agriculture will soon materialise and the need to monitor all these with satellite images will arise.

Next is the issue of Internally Generated Revenue. We now know that Lagos get a major chunk of its revenue from information about every business and houses in Lagos. I am challenging other state governors to do the same thing. Governance is all about having money to create a conducive environment for quality education, quality medical centres, good roads and affordable houses, and so many other social amenities. All these can only be done by having sufficient money. But how do you generate enough of that money? The answer is that in every state capital of the country, there are houses and structures worth several millions. We can use the satellite to get images of those houses, and then create a detail data base of every house that can be assessed with the click of a computer mouse. Those houses or structures can be assessed to find out their true worth, which can then be centrally taxed appropriately. When these are put together it runs into several billions that states can increase their internal revenue for the welfare and comfort of everybody. 
Thirdly, farmers must be guided. The land is dynamic and a farmer must know the limitation of soil in terms of doing soil characterisation to determine the basic elements in soil and the chemical characteristic of how good a soil is. If you ask a man from the village now, he will tell you that his land is getting weak. He needs to know how weak that land is. What is its limitation in terms of sodium? What is its limitation in terms of nitrogen, potassium and other chemicals? This is so that you just don’t buy fertiliser anyhow, but should know which fertiliser is required. Is the land acidic for lime to be applied to increase the ph? All these things are part of modern agriculture and space technology that has a reliable way of getting things done. But we are yet to fully tap into it.

The moment Nigerians are challenged and importation of rice banned in this country, Nigerians would embraced commercial farming of rice. They would come to us to buy images. Same with soya beans and other key farm produce. We also hope that with time, the Space Council can one day come out with a policy that as we grow, unless the capacity of the communication satellites that would come soon are exhausted in Nigeria, you cannot go outside to get it. And if you do, you will be prosecuted. We want Nigeria to get to that stage so that we can create a viable local market. All these are part of our problems and challenges.

Recently a member of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom frowns at financial aids given to countries like Nigeria based on enormous wealth within its reach. What is the level of aid given to you for your space programme by the UK?

NASRDA has not at any time received financial aid or grants from the United Kingdom for our space prpgramme. Even the cordial relationship established with Surrey Satellites Technology Limited of UK with whom we have successfully built Nigeriasat – 1, Nigeriasat – 2 and Nigeriasat – X was purely on a commercial basis. The United Kingdom is not even amongst the countries we have approached for bilateral collaborations on our astronaut project. Even the British cabinet minister, Justine Greening has pointed out that no UK public fund was being given for space programmes.