No one is doubting the prestige it brings to a nation

Why should taxpayers who don't care about this so-called "prestige" have to pay for it? That's why it should be a private sector matter. Those that want "prestige" should go and buy their own satellites. Thanks.

@adconline: Thanks. I will only defend a government that sets its priorities right and faces its primary responsibility.

Why should taxpayers who don't care about this so-called "prestige" have to pay for it? That's why it should be a private sector matter. Those that want "prestige" should go and buy their own satellites. Thanks.

You are quoting me out of context, it seems you only read the first line of my post. Did you bother to read were I said:

" The crust of the matter is, is this what we should be embarking on at this moment in our history ? In my opinion, the $311 million spent on this satellite could have been put to much better use " ?

Okay. I believe that, better use or not, the government shouldn't even be allowed to consider such spending.

the question to ask here, is that are we saying that government cannot afford another $311million and if we can, will the money solve all the problems highlighted by Gnature and the other people.

It also has its merits like helping people in the country make calls at a cheaper rate, helping and adding revenue from other African countres, we'r the first to do it in any black nation whether in Africa or not, it also can be used for security matters in the nation serving as a GPS, it will be considered in the university curriculum, it will revolutionize us to build better ones, etc
As for its disadvantages: the management issue from maintainance to accounting is in huge doubts, Nigerians home and abroad lack innovation in this field and electricity field if not they would have been given that same amount of money,ETC.
@GNATURE, Bayelsa and Delta state both have respective universities and have been having universities but they have decided not to go to school instead they want control of the oil money without education and oviously the unrest is also a factor. The government wants and wishes someone Nigerian has an innovative way or a sure way of solving our electricity problem and water problem and also factoring in the global warming effects all done with our resources or 80% of our resources but the funny thing is that no one is capable of doing that and foreign companies are proposing ridiculous amounts and not only that, they(foreigner contractors) are trying to make it in such a way that we 'll almost always have to keep buying parts from them. Other factors to my knowledge are sabotging of transformers, people stealing cables to sell in other countries, and also the crooks in the government benefiting from the current conditions.
The government's aim has been 500Naira per month or lesser for a family home but foreign contractors bid will cause pressure and force people to pay more than 5000naira a month for electricity. Dams are not really an option now because the lake chad and other water problems are making it not an option. Haven't u heard of the predicted future water wars and in reference to water what good will it pay us to laugh now and some cry and die later eventhough dat is reality now. So if u'r a genius come up with a masterplan to solve the electric and water problems.

naijaway:


@GNATURE, Bayelsa and Delta state both have respective universities and have been having universities but they have decided not to go to school instead they want control of the oil money without education and oviously the unrest is also a factor.

@naijaway, Delta and Bayelsa do have universities, but they are state universities, not federal universities. They are claiming it is their oil money that was used to build the federal universities all over Nigeria today, so they should each have federal universities too, and I am on their side !

Part of the problem in the Niger Delta today is due to the non-presence of federal infrastructure in that part of the region, despite the fact that they produce all the oil revenue for the nation.

If that $311 million was spent on building universities in Delta and Bayelsa (at $155.5 million a piece) , they would feel less cheated and the militants would see that someone is finally listening to their pleas for even development.

Again, misplaced prioriities

The government wants and wishes someone Nigerian has an innovative way or a sure way of solving our electricity problem and water problem and also factoring in the global warming effects all done with our resources or 80% of our resources but the funny thing is that no one is capable of doing that

We are capable of solving our electricity problem. Infact, we are already in the process of solving the problem. By December 2008, it is projected that we will be generating 10,000 MW of electricity. The national assembly has already abolished the law that used to make NEPA the only power company. In essence, the power sector is being privatized, but the process is very strenuous and cumbersome so it is going to take time for us to get to where we need to be. But we already have a [url=http://power.cpcstrans.com/files/Opportunities%20in%20Power%20Sector_DG-BPE%202006%2011.pdf] fine blueprint[/url] in place, we just need the private investors to come in, and the right minds and right leadership to follow through with the[url=http://power.cpcstrans.com/files/Opportunities%20in%20Power%20Sector_DG-BPE%202006%2011.pdf] blueprint [/url].

GNature:


We are capable of solving our electricity problem. Infact, we are already in the process of solving the problem. By December 2008, it is projected that we will be generating 10,000 MW of electricity,  But we already have a [url=http://power.cpcstrans.com/files/Opportunities%20in%20Power%20Sector_DG-BPE%202006%2011.pdf] fine blueprint[/url] in place, we just need the private investors to come in, and the right minds and right leadership to follow through with the[url=http://power.cpcstrans.com/files/Opportunities%20in%20Power%20Sector_DG-BPE%202006%2011.pdf] blueprint [/url].

Ah yes, that timeless promise of happy days ahead with constant flowing electricity in Nigeria.  Now where have they heard that one before ?  Oh yes, I remember now, that promise has been made hundreds of times by every single Nigerian government that has "run" the country over the past 2 decades .  Too bad reality has such an annoying habit of failing to conform with empty pledges.

But for that little glitch,  Nigeria would be lit up like Las Vegas 24 hours a day with free electricity, and all those smoky gas flares in the Niger Delta would have been piped off to the nation as cooking fuel, rather than left to burn and poison the air, water and soil as 24-hour roaring infernos in the oil fields.

Make una no worry, I don get confamation say immediately when fowl get teeth to chop corn, wey snake get leg to wear fine shoe, na him Nigeria light go dey light both day and night without comma.

On top that one, I come hear again say Buhari and Atifu dey inside that satellite when dey for outer space, and the job when them give them be say make them siddon for up dey direct giant torch-light to every Nigeria town, turn by turn, wey e go come be say AT LEAST once every five years each Nigeria town go see electric light for complete 5 minutes. 

Because of this, make una stop all this complain for our satellite o.  If them vex stop the food when them dey send to Buhari and Atifu for inside our satellite, hungry nogo let them face the inportant work wey dem for do to save Nigeria with artificial sun.   

Monkey no fine, but him mama love am.

with all that have been posted on the thread, one thing i have noticed in my Nigerians is that we are fiery speakers and writers when it comes to criticizing government policies. maybe some of us are forgetful, India today is not just one of the leading nations in ICT, they are a nuclear power so also is Pakistan. I doubt if both countries have finished "putting food on the tables" of all their citizens. and for your information India is the dominating country in the ICT sector of the almighty United Nations today and as a matter of fact in my location here in Dili, all the UN staff in the CITS section are "ALL INDIANS" i am sure when their government was investing in this sector if they were Nigerians, they would have said they should wait until there is food on their tables. we are all benefitting from GSM and other phone facilities, probably we should have asked OBJ to wait and " put food on our tables" before auctioning the licences. the problem is that many of us hate to hear that name OBJ, i pray that many of us will be alive by the time we start realizing the usefulness of some the groundwork he has made. as far as i am concerned since the time i have grown up to be called an adult till today this is the most progressive government i have seen in this country Nigeria. on a final note if you are in Lagos, Abuja and some other urban centres without jobs pack your bags and head back to your town or village  go and engage in little farming on the wasting family land and stop waiting till any leader will put food on your bug infested tables. i am an Ekiti man none of the people who remain at home in my state will blame OBJ for not feeding them, because they farm and they feed well. they may not have cars or may not have built mansions , at least they are not part of the crowd blaming OBJ for not putting food on their tables.

Jakumo:


Ah yes, that timeless promise of happy days ahead with constant flowing electricity in Nigeria.  Now where have heard that one before ?  Oh yes, I remember now, that promise has been made hundreds of times by every single Nigerian government that has "run" the country over the past 2 decades .  Too bad reality has such an annoying habit of failing to conform with empty pledges.

But for that little glitch,  Nigeria would be lit up like Las Vegas 24 hours a day with free electricity, and all those smoky gas flares in the Niger Delta would have been piped off to the nation as cooking fuel, rather than left to burn and poison the air, water and soil as 24-hour roaring infernos in the oil fields.

Jakumo, there are 13 power stations being built as we speak now in Nigeria, 7 of which are in the Niger Delta alone. This is a fact !  The contracts have been signed, down payments have been made, and the contractors are working at the power sites. This is no gimmick. Infact, the 414 MW Geregu Power plant, the Ibom power plant and the the 335 MW Papalanto power plant have all been commissioned

I can understand your skepticism, because our leaders have failed us woefully in the past, but what can stop these projects from being completed with over $40 billion in reserves ? You don't honestly think Yar 'Adua is going to come in and terminate the building of these plants do you ?

awoof

do not give OBJ the credit of GSM cos the proccess of getting GSM was in place before he came in to weste our 8 yrs.

Let me ask one question. Should we then have continued to rent bandwidth from overseas in order to communicate? Or do the people complaing about the satellite imagine that we are connected for free?

Now let's discuss some of the benefits of the satellite.
Nigeria will earn $70 million annually from transponder leases on NigcomSat-1.
Nigerian broadband users will save more than $95 million a year
Internet access will be avaliable to remote rural villages.
NigcomSat-1 will allow Nigerians to save $660 million in phone-call charges.
Some 150,000 jobs is estimated will be created.

We are always complaining about government lacking initiative, innovation, or ideas. Yet when these traits are shown we complain?

@fromuk
well, the best i know was that abacha gave licences to some companies in Nigeria, none of them did anything reasonable and to be sure i know what i am talking about, one of the people he gave the licences to was the Chagoury family (you know them?) well no be fight o! can you please educate me better on the process before OBJ came to waste 8 years. we are all learning maybe at the end i will be better educated

Mariory:

Let me ask one question. Should we then have continued to rent bandwidth from overseas in order to communicate? Or do the people complaing about the satellite imagine that we are connected for free?

Now let's discuss some of the benefits of the satellite.
Nigeria will earn $70 million annually from transponder leases on NigcomSat-1.
Nigerian broadband users will save more than $95 million a year
Internet access will be avaliable to remote rural villages.
NigcomSat-1 will allow Nigerians to save $660 million in phone-call charges.
Some 150,000 jobs is estimated will be created.

We are always complaining about government lacking initiative, innovation, or ideas. Yet when these traits are shown we complain?

On second thoughts maybe the bird isn't such a bad idea.  A dollars and cents argument like that starts to make the satellite project seem wothwhile, even if Nigeria's mirage of that pre-requisite grid electricity supply continues to recede the more it is pursued.

What happened to 24hr power by december 2007!! It was advertised all over in summer 2006!!

The nigerian problem is complex but no one can deny the fact that we havent moved beyond our position in 99,its sad obj's administration cldnt solve d electricity problem,i hope umaru makes it a top priority in his govt.Yes coming to the satelite thing,its a very great project the govt shld be commended for,it will improve ict awareness in d country and reduce our dependence on foreign internet providers.Its good to criticise the govt where necessary but i think we must be constructive in all our criticisms.

@sewhenu
God bless you for your post, you have said it all we should not make criticism of government an art. critisize when necessary. only a blind or deaf Nigerian will say he has not seen a single good thing about the outgoing govt and i will advise that such people suffer from collective amnesia

This thread is ridiculous. The new satellite is one of the greatest things that the oBJ Administration has embarked upon. It is by no means a waste of money. Anyone that thinks otherwise should get an immediate appointment at the Mental Insitute(Yaba ).

How in the world can Millions of dollars anually from Tarrifs etc, be a waste of money.
How can better communications and 150,000 Jobs be a waste of money.
This Satellite is the most feasible Project I have seen in years.

Nigerians and other Africans wil benefit from this project directly and indirectly.

If you hear that you next door neighbour got a Job in a Satellite H.Q in Abuja, you know who to thank
If you are suddenly paying less money for your internet, you know who to thank.

This project is the best thing Obsanjo has done. Some people st on their chairs posting the same old nosense, without any research.

How did India get where it is today. Wasn't it through Education and ICT. Some people are still dwelling in the stone age; thinking that oney can only be earned by planting Yam and selling it in the Oja.

This project is more feasible than a Rooster. If I became president, this is the first thing I would do. Build a satellite.
Nigeria wil get more money over a period of 15 years than what was initially invested.

If that's not putting food on the table, then I don't know what is.

NigomSat-1 = Feasible

I should contact Oxford dictionary, and tel them to put NigomSat-1 as a synonym for Feasible

This thread is a Joke

Internet access will be avaliable to remote rural villages. may be they power their computer with candle good.
Nigeria will earn $70 million annually from transponder leases on NigcomSat-1. what happened to the revenue we earn from crude oil.
Some 150,000 jobs is estimated will be created. with constant electricity the govt will create 150k jobs multiply by 10 both directly and self employed.
Internet access will be avaliable to remote rural villages. we have crude but still more % of nigerians use fire wood to cook their food even in our biggest cites(Abuja and lagos). Why? no cooking gas, kerosine but yet we have them.

let us prioritise our needs and things will work out well for us. You dont run b4 working. Electricity, Water, Good road network.

Retired workers now no pension, no gratuity, ASUU on Strike cos of Pay d list goes on yet our govt want to tell the outside world they care for the needs of nigerians by embarking on white elephant projects.

All of a sudden they are hosting or on standby to host all manner of sports tournament.

Gilded clothing to hide a decayed polity.

Shame on these bastards. They do not know but they sow the seeds of their destruction.

Putting Food On The Table Or Sending Satelite Into Space.

Only if we could manage both, it would be great.

Both

I pray the Nigcoomsat1 works and i think it will put the world Bank to shame. i read a news story some time ago that they said it will take Nigeria 1000 years to interconnect our schools

whatever you guyz think,
just when the american solution to recess was on trial,
JFK sent a rocket to land man in space.
do you know that man landed on the moon for record purposes
even b4 the advent of space communication satelites.
but that single victory by the americans gave hope and recess was over.

today obj has spent close to 4billion dollars on power generation yet nothing
while with lees than half a billion dollars nigeria will get royalty from other countires and the private sector to pay her loan and position her populace for capacity building in space technology and others.

what power holders cant do, space technologist are achieving even far more.
communication may get cheaper and reach eveywhere

First off, about the header on this thread, the government does not put food on the table anywhere in the world except in Nigeria. Open a google page and type: Free Food Kano. Yet you people say government did not put food on the table. Is government meant to put food on the table or provide avenues for the populace to put food on their own tables themselves.
Next thing we know, some of you will complain that government did not flush shit from the toilet. We agree that government should be the people's servant but it doesn't mean they should serve you food on your dining table.



@dayokanu
as for you, I believe you should be stripped naked in a public place for trying to suggest that NEPA should connect a cable outer space in order to power our satellite. All satellite outer space are powered by generators, mostly solar generators. Why should Nigeria be different? Admit it, for singling out Nigeria and questioning its decision to use a generator to power its satellite, you hate this country.

@Larufa

I no gree say you dey work for ICT sector O!
On Your choice of stable electricity over a communication satellite, I ask you: with N20,000 ($160 ) you can get a small generator and provide your own electricity but assuming you had $10,000,000, you can't launch your own mini communications satellite.

@alpontif

you have been on nairaland and have watched people post messages on the site. Do you absolutely believe that there is NO SUSTAINABLE INTELLECTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN NIGERIA. Why people just like to dey blow big grammar like this. If you say no infrastructure, I would agree, if you say no sustainable infrastructure, I may agree. But no sustainable INTELLECTUAL infrastructure. If there's one thing Nigeria has in excess, it's intellectual infrastructure.
By the way, when we were driving cars you didn't think we were aping the west. When our musicians started hiphop, we weren't aping the west. When GSM and internet came, we weren't aping the west. Now we want to go further and you call us apes. I thought the ape would be the one who suggests a halt from furthering our embrace of technology.

fromuk:

Internet access will be avaliable to remote rural villages. may be they power their computer with candle good.

A computer is not the only way to access the internet.

fromuk:

Nigeria will earn $70 million annually from transponder leases on NigcomSat-1. what happened to the revenue we earn from crude oil.

What about diversifying away from crude oil? So we wait until crude oil dries up before we start developing our knowledge on space technology? We wait until we have 24 hour constant electricity before we further develop our knowledge? We wait till government can give all Nigerians free food before we develop our knowledge? Do you wait till you can talk before you learn to walk?

fromuk:

Some 150,000 jobs is estimated will be created. with constant electricity the govt will create 150k jobs multiply by 10 both directly and self employed.

So we wait till we have constant electricity before we start looking at other ways to create jobs? Wow!

fromuk:

Internet access will be avaliable to remote rural villages. we have crude but still more % of nigerians use fire wood to cook their food even in our biggest cites(Abuja and lagos). Why? no cooking gas, kerosine but yet we have them.

As opposed to paying less for telephony and internet services and having a little bit extra to spend or save thanks to the comms satellite? When prices of telephone and internet services drop, be sure to reject the lower price and keep paying the current higher fee you are paying.

@Mariory

thank God people are still thinking like you. I think I know everything about Nigeria but I come in here and learn more and more from people like you. Keep it up.

@ Seun

what you did to me is not good O! So there was so much to gain from this site and you did not forcefully register me even without my consent.
Ah! Years ago when you first created this site and invited me, I didn't know it was like this ke. I would have joined in immediately. So you just left me languishing and craving information from Nigerian student group and UNIBEN Group where go no dey and come no dey come.
Abeg see how young brains dey ooze of intelligence.

I hear say na tiger head battery dem use power the satellite.I hear say Nigerian govt no give Asians enough funds so na wetin dey scrap yard dem use assemble am.