By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Chief of Defence Space Administration (CDSA), AVM Lanre Oluwatoyin, says the agency has continued to provide valuable support for the ongoing military operations against insecurity across the country.
Oluwatoyin said this when the Nigerian Institution of Space Engineers (NISEng), conferred on him an honorary Fellowship Award on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said the agency had since inception been contributing in terms of support to all operations by providing imagery of most of the operational areas and some areas of interest for the armed forces of Nigeria.
“We have been doing that since the inception of the administration and we will continue to do that.
“Again, in terms of communication, we have been providing secure communication between the troops and the headquarters and vice versa and even among the various operations between the aircraft and the ground troops,” he said.
The CDSA said that there were three ecosystems in Nigerian space such as the DSA, Nigeria Communications Satellite (NigCOMSAT) and National Space Research and Development Agency (NARSDA).
He said that DSA had been able to bring the agencies together to work in synergy, adding that it had been getting a lot of communication support from NigCOMSAT, while NARSDA had been helping in training some of DSA personnel.
“In fact, we have trained over 100 armed forces officers at NARSDA and we are still continuing with all those things.
“So the synergy has been very perfect between the three agencies,” he added.
The National Chairman of NISEng, Mr Babalola Kayode, said that the issue of funding had remained a major challenge in managing the nation’s space, saying that the government must understand the need to stay ahead of issues that are damning the country in terms of security.
He said the space agencies must be sufficiently funded to be able to be at par with the happenings in the world.
According to him, the prospects are countless when talking about agriculture, health, security and national development.
“There is also the need for the government to pull through and follow through policies and also support Research and Development because that is the way we bring about new ideas and vision that will support the industry,” he said. (NAN)
