Nigeria’s multi-billion naira earth observations satellites were on recess and failed to provide update information and pictures during the recent heavy floods which killed 431 people and displaced 1.3 million more, a special Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigation can now reveal.
As NigeriaSat-2 & NigeriaSat-X, the two satellites built with some N9.94 billion by Nigeria were slow in capturing data of the flooding; the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellites were busy capturing up to the second images of the ravaging flood.
NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States had on September 25, the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” to produce maps of the flooding of the Niger and Benue River close to the city of Lokoja.
They were able to compare the image of the confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers in southern Nigeria on October 11, 2012 and the images acquired October 8, 2010 to show the extent of the floods.
Back home, beyond the late pictures from NASRDA showing; Niger-Benue confluence [Lokoja] flood plain map, Nigeria; Niger-Benue confluence [Lokoja] flood plain map, Nigeria-2; Map of affected settlement by flood and Map of Nigeria showing some States affected by flood in 2012, the agency has not provided further insights.
National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), one of the Research Institutions under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology manages NigeriaSat-2 & NigeriaSat-X.
Information of NASRDA’s website merely said that “in recent times climate change and some anthropogenic activities have taken their negative toll on some Nigeria states by the way of flooding. The effect of the flood however, is felt both in Nigeria and its neighboring countries.
NASRDA intervened in the flood disaster management through the production of before and after flood maps of the most affected area along river Niger and Benue. The maps below are parts of NASRDA’s flood monitoring and management map products of the affected areas” the agency added.
NASA’s satellite however reported that it images from its observation “use a combination of visible and infrared light to better distinguish between water and land. Water varies from electric blue to navy, vegetation is bright green, and clouds range in color from nearly white to pale blue-green.
The contrast between the images is stark. In October 2012, flood water swamped areas that had been dry two years earlier. The Benue River was markedly swollen east of Lokoja, and flood water fanned out over a large area south of Idah” it said.
NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X was designed to assist the Disaster Monitoring Constellation.