Nigeria’s N40bn Satellite Missing from Orbit

The Nigerian Commun-ications Satellite (NigComSat), which was launched into orbit over 18 months ago, is said to be missing.
THISDAY gathered last night that with the satellite missing from orbit, the huge amount spent by the Nigerian government, about N40 billion may have gone down the drain.
The satellite was found to have run into a technical hitch for some weeks now, according to a source, when it was discovered that it was using a technological standard that was not meant for Africa but Asia.
The materials used in the building of the satellite by the Chinese that built it were said to have also been in question.
The solar panel was said to be faulty and not working. All this was being battled with while, the Managing Director of NigComSat, Ahmed Rufai, was said to be angling for the launch of the second satellite.
The contract for the NigComSat project which was signed on December 15, 2004 in Abuja between China Great Wall Industry Corporation and the National Space Research and Development Agency was said to have cost the Federal Government over N40 billion. China was awarded the deal after it outbid 21 international.
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source : http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=127885

What a shame!!!

man this country can be plain depressing at time. do they have to fuc everything up

The satellite was found to have run into a technical hitch for some weeks now, according to a source, when it was discovered that it was using a technological standard that was not meant for Africa but Asia.

they only realized this after launching? wtf

I was just about to post this. Another great reason not to get everything through China. . . . .

blackspade:

I was just about to post this. Another great reason not to get everything through China. . . . .

I agree, they seem to have their hands in many failed projects in Nigeria and yet we continue to give them more.

Nigeria too like awoof, I'm sure there's more to the reason why they were awarded the contract. If you look closer, you would find out that there a lot of palms were greased during the bidding. No wonder they didn't go back to check quality of the job done,

This may result into spending billions of Naira to search for the missing satellite and probe the project as a whole. Senate Probe committee, here is another work for you!

blackspade:

I was just about to post this. Another great reason not to get everything through China. . . . .

To an extent you are right

however, i've dealt with the Chinese and i tell you, these dude are ruthless businessmen pure and simple.
If u want a N10000 space satellite, i tell these guys will make it for you.
On the other hand, if u want NASA grade satellite, same thing just pay the right amount & they'll make it for you.

Why is it that the biggest American/Global Tech companies Intel & the like outsource most of their production (some design even) to china?Mind u these kats dont get sentimental with their money.
the Answer simply is that they are competent enough to handle this.

I own many devices bought directly from china 7 i tell you, they r more expensive but of superior quality than what obtains in our markets.


We need to ask Mr NigComSat how much of the N40billion was actually spent on the satellite.
The only reason the Chinese outbidded 21 other international firms was that they offered the best 'Kickback deal' cos they could always compromise on quality.
If u had given say a British coy the contract it would've cost N80billion cos kickback must dey.


**With this development, at least he should forget the 3G license he wanted govt to hand freely to him.

When is OBJ going to back to Prison?

When?


Power = $16bill

Satellite = N40bil

If there is number ONE roque in Nigeria today. It is OBJ.

You guys seem not to understand what this means. All communication firms that depend on this satellite for communication are in real trouble.
This satellite uses antenna that only its sky station can transmit to. This means that for these firms to cutover to another Service Provider, they will have to buy new antenna equipments and modems. This is really bad. God help us

na today!!!!!

seannopo:

You guys seem not to understand what this means. All communication firms that depend on this satellite for communication are in real trouble.
This satellite uses antenna that only its sky station can transmit to. This means that for these firms to cutover to another Service Provider, they will have to buy new antenna equipments and modems. This is really bad. God help us

Since the launch of this Satellite, its been politics, politics and politics. I don't think any communication firm has started using their services. For over 18 months now one was expecting that the Satellite would have impacted positively on our internet services but nothing has changed and this is the reason why we wont miss the Satellite except that one would just feel the pains of another wastage to the nation.

This country could be so funny, where the satellite waka go, or it felt tired and decided to take a walk Or mayb Chinese people don do serious magic. Mayb we should be expectant, it will come back. LOL

Why must it always be this country with such reports? We are so good wasting money and getting no result, why, why, why?

all these are talks.

we need action.

Get OBJ back into prison and next Presidents wont F**K with us.

We need to make clear example of these useless people in Government.

So much for best economy in 2020, 12years away.

hahahahahahaha

Nigeria is a BIG JOKE

lololololololol

ROTFLMAO



Im outta here!

who come steal satellite?

abi OBJ pack am amongst other things he bloody looted?!

Was the satellite even there in the first place?

Anything can really happen in this Nigeria

paribus:

Was the satellite even there in the first place?

Anything can really happen in this Nigeria

We were aware of the day it was launched, the only thing we dont know is if it was the exact satellite that was launched, or a cloned toy.

But I have been thinking, if satellite leave space, where will it go to, Heaven or Hell, or Imagination, Just thinking sha!!!

LOL. Real satellite is sitting in a hut by Sagbama expressway. They sent up a trash can on top of the rocket and now they gon claim the insurance!!!!!

Untill we hear from the Nigcomsat people in Abuja we really wouldn't know the true position of things. However, it doesn't look good. It explains why they say that development comes first from a change of attitude and culture, not from machines.

Our culture in Nigeria is not supportive of advanced technology. Who did not remember the crashed airplane that was alleged to have disappeared into the thin air, while lying on some farm land out around Obudu area with injured passangers who later died? The nation focused their attention on other areas that diverted attention from real efforts to locate the plane.

Why should one be surprised that Nigeria can't keep tract of a satellite when they can't even supply themselves with basic electricity? Despite this shameful electricity situation, some people are talking about NUCLEAR POWER.
Do you know what type of meticulous record keeping is required to manage a safe nuclear power?

You know,

I can jst see the Satellite drifting from its orbit

i hope it doesnt crash into another

maybe itd get stuck on Jupiter or something

buhahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaha

heheheheehehehehehehehehehehehehe

oink oink oink oink oink oink oink oink oink



i'm not surprised. if we can 'lose' two whole ships, a satellite should be easy to put in a ghana must go bag for example. i can just see one igbo boy selling it in the black market -

nna, this one na ebeano! yor sattalitey go strong pass even america own, okwa i ghotara? go and check nobody get this sattalitey for this whole africa sef. if you buy am, you go dey communicate directly to white house!!

hey yaah, we did it again

yeah, congrats to my fellow nigerians.

its not easy for us to acheive this feat, a satellite with mystical capabilities (wiliwili)

hahahahhahhaahahahahah, Nigeria will not kill me with laughter.

Nigeria firm denies Africa's first comms satellite missing in orbit

Wed, 12 Nov 2008

Abuja - Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited on Wednesday denied allegations that Africa's first communication satellite was missing in orbit. Ahmed Rufai, Managing Director of the company, a public-private partnership, said that the satellite was powered down after technical problems were identified on Sunday night.
"We, in collaboration with our Chinese counterparts, identified some problems on Sunday and had to switch off the satellite to enable us to carry out fault analysis of the situation," he said, adding that the satellite was fully insured.
Chinese embassy officials in Nigeria declined to comment.
The Nigerian press had widely reported Wednesday that the satellite had disappeared in orbit.
The China Great Wall Industry Corporation built the satellite at a cost of 256 million dollars. It was launched from the Xichang space launch centre in south-west China's Sichuan province on May 14, 2007.
The satellite was designed to serve as the strategic backbone for Nigeria's communication industry.
It was also meant to provide the much-needed bridge to close the digital divide being experienced by African nations and provide the enabling platform for Africa to be relevant in today's information age and digital economy.
The NIGCOMSAT-1 project was designed to cover a host of requirements in sectors such as security and surveillance, banking, oil and gas, telecommunication, internet services, among others.

Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/241322,nigeria-firm-denies-africas-first-comms-satellite-missing-in-orbit.html

Good to know that the satellite is not missing. In a country where a whole ship watched by our navy goes missing, passanger aircrafts go missing, mind-bugling sums of money go missing from public coffers, and even entire local government areas of the country go missing; you can't blame people for being suspicious.
Until we see the satellite back into action, we'll continue to hold our breath.

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double post.

abi den don thief am

Good thing i was patient enough to get to the bottom of the thread and read the claims being rebuffed. Perhaps this is a good time for people to ask for visual imagery of the satellite so that we know there is actually a "satellite". Honestly i think Nigerian politicians have come to learn time and time again how gullible Nigerians can be and how easy they are to step on without getting any punishment from it except the mild inconvenience of noise making and being called "ole". You don't even know sef maybe they just showed a clip from star trek on the news and even with reasonably well known actors people didn't get clued into this fact and started celebrating that we have "satellite". Abeg, this is the time to start asking for visual imagery of the satellite o, maybe it would have been better if during launch there was some kind of legal requirement to put some form of "identification" say a green ribbon or so, so that the masses don't get shown an american satellite as our own. Perhaps i am giving too much credit, even with an american flag shown on an american satellite they might have even been able to get away with it. Perhaps an "OBJ wuz here" on the side of the vessel would have sufficed? Hey, you never know, we do all know what Nigerian leaders, politicians and the Nigerian populace are capable of, right?  

What's all these noise about a junk in the space? Something that was of no use right from the word go.
Thank "god" that after 2 years of total waste of time, space, human and financial resources; the junk has finally disappeared. Now, those jobless technicians pretending to be monitoring the junk  can go and find something else to develop their poor training with.

It can never be a surprise to me that a failed project like this has something to do with a failed country.



People foresaw this failure before the project was even signed.

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