Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, has called for the development of homegrown applications built on satellite technology across agriculture, education, logistics and security, framing the push as essential to national productivity rather than technological prestige.
Tijani made the remarks at the NIGCOMSAT Satellite Week in Abuja, themed “Harnessing Space for an Extraordinary Nigeria,” where he also announced a N12 million Digital Economy Research Cluster Fund to support six research clusters across the country. “Infrastructure alone is not enough,” he said. “What matters is what we build around it.”
NIGCOMSAT Managing Director Nkechi Egerton-Idehen used the event to outline the agency’s expanding commercial footprint. The organisation recorded over N2 billion in revenue in 2023 and has secured partnerships with Intelsat and the Kenya Space Agency, while expanding its service reach to cover government, enterprise and telecommunications clients across more than 60 countries spanning Africa, Europe and Asia.
The most operationally significant commitment disclosed at the event was Project 774, an initiative to extend satellite connectivity to all 774 local government areas in Nigeria, targeting underserved communities that remain beyond the reach of terrestrial broadband infrastructure. “This reflects our belief that Nigeria’s space programme is not about prestige, but about people,” Egerton-Idehen said.
The Nigerian Army’s representative at the event, Maj.-Gen. Kennedy Osemwegie, added a national security dimension, noting that satellite-based intelligence capabilities have been integrated into operations addressing terrorism, insurgency and cross-border crime.
Nigeria’s satellite ambitions place NIGCOMSAT in an increasingly contested African space services market, where operators including Arabsat, Intelsat and a growing number of LEO providers including Starlink are competing for government and enterprise connectivity contracts across the continent. The Project 774 rural connectivity target, if delivered, would represent one of the most ambitious satellite-led digital inclusion programmes on the continent by geographic reach.
