For what could be termed as a familiarization visit, members of the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) were at the Ground Station of the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), Wednesday, December 7, 2011.

The lawmakers were received by the Management, who led them on a facility tour. In an interactive session that ensued at the Company’s Auditorium, the Committee expressed satisfaction with the equipment and manpower on ground and declared its readiness to give legislative support to any effort by Government to use NIGCOMSAT’s facilities and services against the scourge of insecurity in the country.

Chairman of the House Committee, Ibrahim Shehu Gusau, also pledged to see that budgetary allocations to NIGCOMSAT is increased to boost its operations which, according to the lawmaker, are very relevant in reversing Nigeria’s current state of insecurity. The services of NIGCOMSAT, Gusau stated, should be deployed against the various threats to security in the country as against the increasing patronage being given foreign based firms.

In his brief to the Committee, the Managing Director, Engr. Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, reiterated what NIGCOMSAT could achieve for the country in terms of boosting national security. He said, “You know satellite is a transmission infrastructure. In terms of national security, it is going to aid the exchange of information among security agencies; seamless exchange of sensitive intelligence information across board. What is happening now is that most of the institutions are existing in silos; they have information restricted to themselves. So you find out a situation whereby the State Security Service (SSS) is not communicating much with the Police and other security agencies.”

Adding that, “Satellite will be able to give them Vital Public Network (VPN) that will empower them to communicate across board; share intelligence on time and also to be able to act pro-actively. Before you can react, you must have information to prevent something from happening. Someone could have information but because he is not connected, he is not in an area where he can communicate it to those who want it, there might be a gap between where the information is needed and where it is available. And this is the gap that the satellite will bridge.”

The Managing Director also announced that NigComSat-1R, the replacement satellite for NigComSat-1, which was deorbited in November 2008, after eighteen months of operation, would be launched in China on December 19, 2011. He said the Management, its technical partners and all relevant parties are working expeditiously on the replacement satellite. “Benefits of NIGCOMSAT-1R will include Hybrid payload design, stronger footprints and centre beams over the African continent, better looking angles and shorter latency for intra Africa communication traffic, high fade margins compensation for attenuation losses due to rain etc. The target applications of NIGCOMSAT-1R include but are not limited to: telecommunications, broadcasting, internet, real-time monitoring services, navigation and global positioning systems. It will also create partnerships, leasing of transponders at affordable prices and research collaborations,” he added.