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President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval for launch of Nigeria’s second communication satellite in 2022, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has said.
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Pantami during a one-day working visit to the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited, this week in Abuja, said his ministry has been given approval by the president for planning and launching of a second communications satellite.
According to him, about N2.5 billion has been set aside in the 2022 budget for the NigComSat-2 satellite project.
“That approval of the federal government, which I have secured, has been forwarded to NIGCOMSAT. Now, it is on the table of the management of NIGCOMSAT to answer that question but I want to make sure that all work in progress must be completed in 2022,” said Pantami during an interactive session with the staff of the publicly owned satellite company under the supervision of his ministry.
The minister added that he has been able to win over the Minister of Finance and received his assurance that budget and funding for the new communication satellite is included in the 2022 budget.
His words: “Since 2019, I have been so passionate about the success of NIGCOMSAT, starting with the suspension of the privatization of NIGCOMSAT. As a matter of fact, I have secured the approval of Mr. President for purchasing another satellite. I went further to lobby the Minister of Finance to ensure that this is included in the 2022 budget.”
NigComSat-2 is expected to be a High throughput satellite (HTS) with a total throughput of 300 Gbps, will be a launched as a public-private partnership (PPP). The satellite will also include triband spacecraft – C band for Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) systems to provide the most vital telecommunication link between a satellite and ground station; Ka-band; and Ku-band.
