Nigeria Wants To Put A Man On The Moon…After 2030
At least no one will accuse us of being too ambitious. Did you know Nigeria had a space program? We don’t have most things, so you’ll be forgiven if your answer is no. The Nigerian space program, National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) gave a detailed and err…interesting interview to CNN revealing Nigeria’s plans for space and moon landing.
The director general of NASRDA, S. O. Mohammed, discussed his plans, and why the Nigerian space program is important. He wants a locally designed and built satellite by 2018, the launch of a satellite from the Nigerian territory by 2030, and, after that, he wants Nigeria to put a man on the moon. Sure, sure.
(Source: GIPHY)
“We have always said… the Nigerian space program is not going to be an ego trip. We are not part of the race for the moon, we’re not part the race for Mars. What we need to look at is using the space program to look at how we can create typical Nigerian solutions to most of our problems.”
Truthfully, the space program being an ego trip is the least of our problems. We’re more worried about the substantial things, we have better questions than that.
What’s the point of a satellite program in a country with 70% of its population living below the poverty line? What’s the point of having a man on the moon more than 60 years after the U.S did it (honestly, man on the moon is so 1960s)? Where is the billion dollar budget? If there’s a billion dollar budget, point us to who will embezzle it. Where are the cutting edge labs and equipment?
However, DG Mohammed lists the benefits of Nigeria’s existing 3 satellite programs as evidence of what can be gained from a national space program: the documentation of the regional climate change patterns, updating of the country’s maps, and tracking the movements of terrorist group Boko Haram.
NASRDA has been granted $20 million (N7 billion) this financial year to keep operations going, but it needs $65 million (N22.8 billion) more to get its next satellite project off the ground. In the 2017 budget, members of the National Assembly, that is the Management, the Senate and the House of Representatives are to receive N14 billion , 31 billion and 49 billion respectively – minus their allowances.
Does Nigeria sound, to you, like it’s ready for a space program?
