NigComSat Reposition for Excellence

Ahmed Rufai, chief executive officer, Nigerian Communication Satellite (NigComSat), has said that with nearly 150 young engineers fully trained and equipped to fit into any global engineering field, limited is ready to take on the world, its (CEO),.
Taking a cursory look at the genesis of the organization and the blue print endorsed by former President Olusegun  Obasanjo to make sure that “ we get the right technology and the know-how that will bail Nigeria out of the woods”, Rufai said, “we went to work immediately to go beyond the satellite bandwidth backbone for multimedia industry by sending our engineers abroad to acquire knowledge not only for satellite communications engineering and its applications but also other areas of ancillary and foundation technology including software and hardware engineering such as algorithms for various micro electronic based products such as Printed Circuit Board (PCB) laptop and desktop computers, cameras, decoders, industrial control boards, GSM phone manufacturing, e-voting solution, staff attendance smart card for time theft and ghost workers control and management among others”.
According to him, “May 13th, 2007 became for us a watershed when we launched NigComSat- 1 at the cost of $256m, of which China Export Import Bank gave a seed loan of $200m, and offer to control and manage it for two years. But unfortunately, due to solar array power assembly problems, the satellite was de-orbited on November 10th, 2008, 18 months after launch”.  Rufai said, that did not in any way discourage the noble objective to take Nigeria to the next level in space.
The Chinese authorities quickly commenced replacement of the satellite at no cost to Nigeria.
Presently, NigComSat is urging the government as a matter of urgency to address the issue of back-up satellite (NigComSat -2and 3) respectively to guarantee smooth business operation as soon as NigComSat-1R is launched. The broadcasting industry and the medical circle will enjoy tremendous improvement in their respective operations if these back-up satellites are available. Other services like telepresence, community telecenters, broadband availability will also be available to users.
Hopefully the re-launch will take place in the 3rd quarter of 2011, he explained.
With a passion to imbibe technology in all area of natural life including e-voting systems, e-governance and taking telecommunications services to uncovered areas of Nigeria via satellite, Rufai lamented that even though GSM services have been well received in parts of Nigeria more than 70 percent of the land mass in the rural areas has not been covered either because the operators think that such areas are not economically viable or the resources are dutifully channeled to economically viable areas. But communication satellite will correct this imbalance.
Rufai said, Nigeria is well endowed with the requisite man-power to take this country to the next level “our engineers here at NigComSat can match and compete favorably with their colleagues else where in the world. They came in on merit and have been well trained by this organization and ready to serve the world. They do all the hard ware and write all the soft ware for all the manufacturing processes here in our Lugbe, Abuja office. That is why we canvass for merit in all appointments whether at state or federal levels.
“Appointment of ministers and commissioners should be on merit so that those appointed should be challenged to deliver, both from ethical and professional points of review.
We have tried that in NigComSat and it has worked, let us replicate this at federal and state appointments and I am sure the country will experience meaningful economic, social and political growth. We should not ask for less”, Rufai emphasized.