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Three persons were
killed on Sunday, when a device assumed to be explosives, exploded at
Dualla junction, Nassarawa Gwong in Jos North Local Government Area of
Plateau State.

Eye witness
report said two men riding on a motor cycle were suspected to be
carrying the explosive which detonated in their custody, killing both
of them instantly.

The third person
was riding alone and turned to escape from the scene of the explosion
when angry residents pulled him down, before killing him and setting
his body ablaze. The mob also burnt the two who died from the explosion.

The incident,
which occurred at about 9:45am, took place near the premises of ECWA
Church, Nassarawa Gwong, some 300 meters from Angwa Rukuba junction.
The junction was scene of the multiple explosions that rocked the city
on December 24, last year.

Pastor in charge of the ECWA parish, Satti Adamu said he was in the church when he heard the sound of an explosion.

“When I came out,
I was told that some Hausa boys wanted to throw a bomb and it exploded
and killed them,” he said. “We had just finished the English service
and were about to start the Hausa service when it happened. The
confusion and reaction it generated disrupted the Hausa service. So, we
did not hold it today.”

Statement from Police

Plateau state
police command confirmed the tragedy. In a bulletin released Sunday
afternoon and signed by the police spokesperson, Apev Jacob, the
command said: “At about 09:45hrs, two men believed to be carrying
explosive devices on them rode on a motorcycle along Nassarawa Gwong,
and on getting to Dualla Junction, the explosives exploded on them
along the road between ECWA and COCIN churches. The two persons lost
their lives in the incident. No church was bombed and there are no
facts yet to suggest that churches were the target.”

Lucky escape

However, security
was immediately beefed up around the Mountain of Fire and Miracles
church, near VIO’s office, after men of the anti bomb squad uncovered a
high-capacity bomb which was planted a few meters from the church
building. A bomb expert at the state police, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, confirmed the discovery.

“If the bomb had gone off, its impact could have raged as far as 500 square meters,” he said.

The state police
commissioner, Abdulkareem Akanno later went into an emergency talk with
the men of the anti bomb squad. But the result of the meeting was not
available to the press.

The Chairman of the
Northern Governors Forum, Muazu Babangida Aliyu at the weekend advised
former military ruler and presidential candidate of the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), Muhammadu Buhari and his Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) counterpart, Nuhu Ribadu, to jettison their political
ambition of becoming the next president of Nigeria. Speaking in
Abeokuta at the 2011 Ogun State Awards of Excellence, Mr Aliyu, who is
also the governor of Niger State, declared that it is in the best
interest of Nigerians for President Goodluck Jonathan of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) to be elected at the April polls, saying his
victory will preserve the country’s unity and send the right message to
its citizens.

Respect for Gbenga Daniel

Mr Aliyu, who was
chairman of the occasion, also said his Ogun State counterpart, Gbenga
Daniel (OGD) still has the confidence of majority of the people
notwithstanding the opposition from some quarters. “I gravitated
towards OGD because we share certain things in common – how to manage
elders. And because he has started it earlier than me, I gravitated
towards him to learn. When we have former heads of state, former
generals (in a state), you need to learn a special way. Where I appear
to be succeeding, my teacher appears to be faltering but, like I said,
it’s a learning process too for teachers,” he said. “Believe me OGD, if
you had not won the confidence of your people, with what is going on,
you would not have been driving on the streets of Abeokuta. I’m happy
when you are driving; people still want to see your face. I’m happy
that people are very happy with you and please consider what has been
happening as part of the growth because I believe God and history has
not finished with you yet.”

Jonathan’s desirable victory

“Nigerians must
jettison ethnicity, religious bigotry and other divisive tendencies
capable of subverting peaceful co-existence and national unity as the
race for the presidency hots up,” Mr Aliyu said, expressing conviction
that it was by God’s design that Jonathan became the president after
the demise of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. “Obasanjo became head of state (in
1976) as a result of the death of Murtala Muhammed. Goodluck Jonathan
became the president as a result of the death of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
That was done by God. It wasn’t designed by anybody and if God gives
somebody such powers, what we can do is to complement and then wait for
the appropriate time,” he said. “But where some people think it is
theirs and they use every opportunity and every sentiment to make it
look like it’s their legitimate right, we must fight it. We must resist
it so that every child, no matter the circumstances of his birth, can
aspire to become the president of Nigeria.” Saying a situation such as
the present circumstances demands respect for equity, fair play and
justice, he said Nigerians must do everything possible to make Mr
Jonathan the next president of Nigeria. “Our nation is passing through
one of the most challenging phases of our socio-political developments.
We must therefore sit up and move away from lip service and loose talk
about national unity,” he said. “We must individually and collectively
act in the appropriate direction by promoting activities that will
engender mutual respect, trust and understanding for continued peaceful
co-existence’. Prominent citizens of Ogun State inducted into the Hall
of Fame include the Awujale of Ijebuland, Sikiru Adetona; Ayo Adebanjo;
Olaniwun Ajayi; Subomi Balogun; Mike Adenuga; Kessington Adebutu; Alex
Onabanjo; Adekoyejo Majekodunmi; Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi; Ayo Otegbola;
late Abraham Adesanya; late Oba Oyebade Lipede; Simeon Adebo;
Adetokunbo Ademola and late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

The Resident
Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) in Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Danyaya has urged Nigerian youth
to be in the forefront of promoting credible and violence-free
electoral process in the country.

Mr Danyaya, who
spoke in Kano over the weekend, at a training workshop on voter’s
education, organized by the International Republican Institute, in
conjunction with Basketball for Peace, said the Nigerian youth are the
panacea to electoral irregularities that have characterized the
nation’s electoral process, pointing out that their role in the next
general elections could make or mar the exercise. “The youth can
determine the outcome of a credible elections, and should therefore not
allow self-seeking politicians to use them as agents of violence,” he
said, adding it is now time for them to rise up to their responsibility
as leaders of tomorrow.

Preparations for the polls

On the preparations
for the forth coming elections, Mr Danyaya said about 24,222 ad-hoc
staff would be recruited to handle the elections in the state. He
expressed optimism that the elections would be free, fair and credible.
The Resident Country Director of the institute, represented by Yinka
Lawal, said the essence of the workshop is to enlighten Nigerians youth
on the inherent danger in electoral violence, which he noted should be
discarded by the youth. He noted that the electoral system is
confronted with a multiplicity of problems, pointing out that the youth
can help change the system for the better. He urged them not to be
indifferent towards political activities, but participate actively so
as to map out a nation of their dream.

The Kano State Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP),
Faruk Iya, debunked allegations that all politicians in the country
engage youth in political thuggery. “I am a politician, but there is no
way I can use my money to sponsor youth to carry out violent activities
for me to actualize my ambition,” he said. “The youth themselves must
resist anyone who wants to use them for any ulterior motive.”

A Senior Advocate
of Nigeria, Adeniyi Akintola, has called for an immediate redeployment
of all Commissioners of Police in states across the country, warning
that their retention will compromise the forthcoming general elections.

Mr Akintola, in an
interview at the weekend, said most of the police chiefs have sold
themselves to governors, adding that if they are allowed to supervise
elections in their current states of posting, the country will not
achieve the desired free, fair and credible polls.

“Retention of
police heads ahead of the elections would not mean much in saner
climes,” he said, “but not in a place like Nigeria where all those in
that position and their counterparts in similar agencies believe that
their allegiance is first to the Chief Executive Officer of the
state/country rather to the constitution.”

Mr Akintola also
challenged Nigerians to ask the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) what logistics to it plans to deploy to achieve its
promise of credible polls.

He said past
elections had been flawed despite the fact that no previous heads of
the electoral body had promised to deliver compromised polls.

Citing the 2007
presidential election as an example, he said the plane that brought
electoral materials from South Africa arrived the country at 2.30 p.m.
on the day of the presidential election, adding that the chartered
plane assigned to deliver that of Adamawa only left the airport around
5.30pm the same day.

“The rational
question to ask is how did voting take place in the state that same day
and results declared? All those were reasons why the 2007 election
could not be regarded as election but selection and the more reason why
Nigerians should, from now, be on guard and make sure that they are not
carried away by INEC’s promises,” Mr Akintola said.

No landslides

The lawyer said he
foresees a political future similar to that of 1979, where parties
govern parts of the country where they are popular.

“If APGA is the
most popular party in Anambra State and wins the election, so be it and
if CPC should win in Kaduna or Kano, let it be so. There will be peace
in the country,” he said.

“If people’s votes are made to count as being promised by the
president, I foresee a situation where the people of the South-West
will go for another party aside the ruling Peoples Democratic Party
[PDP] and the North-West voting for party of their choice, ditto for
other zones. For the country to move forward, the powers that be should
forget the idea of landslide, because it was the landslide idea of 1983
that led to gun slide.”

The responsibility
for curbing violence in Jos, the Plateau State capital, lies with both
the state and federal governments, the governor of Niger State,
Babangida Aliyu, has said.

Mr. Aliyu, who
spoke with reporters at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed
Airport, Lagos, on Sunday, disclosed that though concerted efforts have
been put in place by Northern governors to calm the trouble in the
city, the affected state and the federal government have a lot to do to
restore peace in the state.

“We are trying our
best, the Northern governors even went to minute and resolve this
matter but we believe that the onus is on the federal government and
the state government,” he said.

Mr Aliyu, who is
also the head of the Northern Governors Forum, said the violence
should, however be controlled before it spreads to other states of the
federation.

“I believe that
both at the local level and at the national level, we must act
concertedly so that we are able to nip this thing in the bud; we must
all come together,” he said. “There are reports that have been made,
there are reports with the federal government; the State government
must also be able to sit down with segments of the society to be able
to resolve this matter,” he said.

Facing litigation

Speaking on the
lawsuit against his government, Mr. Aliyu said though it is a challenge
to his administration, democracy permits such, adding that litigations
at times motivate leaders to give their best in order to remain in
office.

“It is a thing of
concern but, again in a growing democracy, we are likely to have that
because many people would want to try many avenues. Gradually this will
come to subside,” he said.

“If you recall I have had litigations since I started, one of them
just finished about last month so sometimes it should inspire people
for better services and in the process we should also be very careful.”

Those who think the idea of Biafra is a dead and
forgotten issue are making a mistake, as it will be resurrected and
used as a vehicle to rally the Igbo nation, Uche Ekwunife, federal
House member from Anambra State, has said.

Mrs. Ekwunife, who seeks re-election to represent her
constituency of Anaocha, Njikoka, Dunukofia, on the platform of All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), said, however, that rather than use
guns to achieve the purpose, APGA would be used to ensure that the Igbo
nation is united under one political umbrella for the emancipation of
the people.

She stated this at the weekend at the final of the
singing competition she sponsored for all the choirs of the Catholic
parishes in her constituency. She told a packed audience, which
included the state governor, Peter Obi, that she joined APGA in
reverence to Chukwuemeka Ojukwu who enjoined politicians to identify
with the party of Ndigbo.

Mrs. Ekwunife said the current political trend in the
country demanded that Igbo should unite under a party they could call
their own, in order to challenge others and attract democracy dividends
to their domains through collective bargaining rather than in the past
when those in power dealt with individuals who had no interest of
Ndigbo at heart.

“We will resuscitate Biafra. Biafra is not dead for
those who think so. But this time, we will not carry guns but we will
carry the APGA flag and do whatever is legally possible to be relevant
as a people. We should embrace APGA and chart our future. Igbo must be
put in the proper perspective,” Mrs. Ekwunife said.

She disclosed that the N2 million singing competition
was aimed at engendering the spiritual upliftment of people and to
accord the choir the respect it deserved as an integral part of
worship. The competition was won by St. Mark’s Catholic Church, Abagana
choir, in Njikoka local council.

“The choir is the engine room of the church and without it, our spiritual life will not be nurtured,” she said.

Party of the people

Mrs. Ekwunife announced that APGA now had a deputy
minority leader in the Federal House, as it currently had 11 members.
She said in three years’ time, the party would win far more seats than
it had now across the country and debunked insinuations that the new
APGA candidates would later abandon the party after the election.

Mr. Obi described Ndigbo as their greatest enemies,
saying they would continue to take the back seat until they stopped
being spectators.

“If anybody comes to tell you to vote for him so he
would build you roads, that person is a liar because only the governor
can build roads. I will be your governor for the next three years and
will do those things for you, but you must give me the right people I
can work with and those people are in APGA,” Mr. Obi said, referring to
the likes of former information and communications minister, Dora
Akunyili and Uche Ekwunife.

He regaled the audience with what Ojukwu told him
last time he visited him in his London hospital, which was that the
Igbo never showed gratitude for things done for them. He said he,
however, promised to continue to serve their interests.

Ilya Bitrus Jack, a retired
soldier, reputed marksman and head of the Ilya family, had been on the
trail of some alleged Fulani marauders. In Kai, Kura Falls, Barkin Ladi
local government area of Plateau State where Mr. Jack lived, he
discovered that his manhunt was a dangerous game, that the people he
was hunting were also hunting him. So he deployed twists, he used
decoys, and he went through convoluted routes to get to his home. In
the end, none of these saved him.

That Sunday evening, Mr. Jack was
at a colonial recreation centre known as Nesco Welfare Club, Kura
falls, watching football. Unknown to him, an alleged accomplice in the
plot against him, Yau Husseini, was also in the premises monitoring
him, and reporting his movement via mobile telephone to other
conspirators who were already lurking around Mr. Jack’s home in
anticipation of his return.

Mr. Jack took the usual
precaution when he left for his house at about 8:30pm. Sensing that he
was being trailed, he took some roundabout route. On getting to Kai
village where he resided, he entered the house of a pastor friend of
his, where he reportedly took some drugs as medication for an
undisclosed ailment. Mr. Husseini, meanwhile, reportedly used this
period to tell his accomplices to get ready; they masked themselves,
mobilised and hid in the dark near the residence of Mr. Jack.
Immediately Mr. Jack entered his parlour, five masked men, among them
the unrelenting Mr. Husseini, rushed him with knives and sticks, while
another group of 10 men provided cover and back up for the attack.

A major skirmish ensued as Mr.
Jack attempted to rebuff them while his wife screamed at the murderers
to let him be. The attackers hacked down Mr. Jack, and proceed to
administer the same fate on his wife and daughter, Keziah Ilya, who had
rushed to the scene. But Mr. Husseini, a Fulani commercial motorcyclist
in Kura Falls, told the only surviving daughter of the Jacks, Bridget,
in Challa (the language of a minority tribe in Bokkos local government
area of Plateau State) to run out of the house to safety.

Gruesome murder

She did. She ended up climbing a
tree around the compound from where she watched the details of the orgy
being orchestrated. Miss Bridget who is a JSS 3 student at a day
secondary school in Kakuruk, said apart from Mr. Husseini and another
Fulani civilian, three of the five men who attacked and murdered her
father, mother and sibling, were soldiers who had earlier served on the
military task force in the area.

Bridget narrated that Mr. Jack
put up manly resistance as they stabbed him from different angles,
before the assailants eventually shot him dead; and proceeded to kill
her mother and sister in the same brutal manner.

A younger brother of Mr. Jack who
also died in the attack, Philip Ilya, was actually killed in the
attempt to defend and avenge the spirit of his brother. Reports say Mr.
Ilya, having been attracted by the disquiet generated by the brawl, and
convinced that they had killed his brother’s family, went on a counter
assault. But his locally made gun with one bullet merely sparked off
more tragedy rather than inflicting any injury on the assailants. They
quelled his defensive outburst with superior fire power. Mr. Ilya was
eventually killed and after this the assailants left. In the ecstasy of
the moment, convinced that they were home free, they removed their
masks but in that moment, a well-known person in the village Yohanna
Mashash who was passing by, saw their faces. They begged him not to
reveal that he met them at that time so near the scene of crime.

An unending nightmare

Mr. Mashash agreed and assured
them that his mouth was sealed and they all departed. Again, it was
reportedly Mr. Husseini with his diabolical instincts who told the
group that Mr Mashash could not be trusted to keep their secret. They
quickly called the unsuspecting Mr. Mashash back, and trusting in the
agreement he had with the group, returned only to be shot dead.

The murderers then reportedly
returned to the house of one Sukku Ruah after accomplishing their
mission, where they had met to hatch the orgy of savagery and
bloodletting.

In the aftermath of the attack,
the security agencies have swung into action. As at press time, reports
said Sukku Ruah and Husseini Yau are already with the state CID, while
Bridget Ilya, who saw it all happen, has been a coveted witness that
the police hope to use to prove their case. At Kura Falls, the mood of
the people is solemn and every body looks so vulnerable. There is
tension too as the incident shows that the enemies are within.

There are accounts that say the
late Mr Jack himself was a victim of a system he has been sustaining
and patronising, because he had allegedly been putting his military
experience at the service of gangs of killers, and even repairing their
weapons. Another report says the attacks were sponsored by others as Mr
Husseini was caught with N21,000 on him at the time of his arrest.

But in the larger social circle that is Nigeria, the sobering question is “when will this madness end?”.

The taps have run dry in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and many residents are not amused.

The FCT water board, on March 7,
2010, announced that water supply within the territory will be rationed
and that only some selected districts will have full capacity treated
water supplied them.

The situation has made life
difficult for residents in the affected areas. Gab Omozwa, a resident,
told NEXT that the water board did not provide adequate publicity
regarding the rationing.

“I turned my tap for water and
nothing came out. I thought my recharge card had finished. I was
disappointed to learn that it was the rationing thing after all,” he
said.

Jibrin Ibrahim, the Director of
the FCT Water Board, said the rationing will continue until work is
completed at the phase 3 and 4 of the treatment plants in Abuja. He
said an increase in population in the city has stretched water supply
beyond estimated limits.

“You see, Abuja is a new city and
is developing,” he said. “There is space between the pace of
development and provision of water infrastructure. That is why we are
now rationing. What happened is that when the forefathers envisaged the
building of Abuja, it was not to be a business capital but an
administrative centre and the population is not to be very large. But
you can see things are changing in the country. Due to insecurity in
some parts of the country, people have now seen Abuja as a haven.
Population has grown. The infrastructure we have now is not meeting the
demand. We cannot give water to everybody 24-7. So we said, we are all
Nigerians, everybody needs water, we can ration so we can move water
from our system to every portion. Our water goes as far as Gwagwalada,
Bwari, Karu and Nyanya.”

He also explained that there are technical issues that have impeded the supply of adequate water.

“We have the problem of raw water
and that of capacity to treat the water. The raw water issue is being
addressed with the Gurara inter-basin transfer. We now have water to
augment the lower Usman dam where we have our own raw water,” he said.

“Government has also gone far with
the development of treatment plant, but there is just a little bit of
gap in the design. There were things not envisaged that cropped: there
is gap between the pipeline coming from Gurara because first of all we
take water straight to the dam and the extract water from there so that
is what has happened but we have seen that the dam has its own capacity
and the maximum you can extract from it but this population is so
high.”

Mr Ibrahim noted that the board
has a long term plan of providing adequate water that will last for
over 20 years without refilling and that the water board was designing
a system that will make it meet expected demand up to 2035.

“What we have now is 10km/hour but
we are going to have 30km/hour when we finish the construction and
commissioned the water treatment plant, which is more than 90 per cent
completed.”

High ground

Mr. Ibrahim, however, said the
rationing will continue up till end of 2011 when the project is
expected to be completed. The director also hinted that other districts
in the FCT will have water supply restored, as plans to lay pipelines
in some satellite towns have advanced.

The areas to be affected by the
rationing, according to a time table which was released by the board,
include some parts of Asokoro, Maitama, Karu/Nyanya, Garki area 11,
Gwagwalada and Bwari.

The affected areas, according to board, are on higher topography of Abuja and requires much pressure to get water to them.

But some residents of the city
were not particularly bothered with the announced rationing. People in
Nyanya and Karu said they were already used to water scarcity and have
since devised means of addressing the gap. They said water rationing is
a non- issue in the area.

“Water supply from the taps has
not been constant here. We have been buying from water vendors and have
also been fetching from the well, so water rationing is not a problem
here,” said Nwayieze Okeke, a resident of NIA senior staff quarters in
Karu.

In Gwagwalada, the story is not
different. Matthew Ikoh, a civil servant, said “right from time, we
have not been having stable water supply; but this rationing has made
things very critical for us in Gwagwalada. We don’t have the water at
all, so we rely on mai ruwa (water vendors).

Mr Ikoh said the most important
thing is for the people to get water, without necessarily being
bothered with how safe it is. Water is sold at the rate of N20 for 20
litres.

“It is not a palatable situation,”
he said. “It is like Gwagwalada problem is very peculiar. In the Abuja
city, there is constant water supply even before the rationing; but in
Gwagwalada; they give us for like four hours. Now that there is a
problem, we do not get water up to one hour and that is once in two
weeks. People buy sachet water more now, as you can see people carrying
it in bags on the street. However, it is also good business for water
vendors and the sachet water sellers. They drink and use the mai ruwa
water for other domestic activities,” he said.

Ovie Obe smokes and stares into
space as he sits on a metallic chair in a deserted restaurant at Mile
2. In 2004, a series of events took him from Nigeria across the Sahara
desert through four African countries and, ultimately, to Europe and
then back to Nigeria, three years later. “When I came back home a
couple of years ago, I vowed never to travel again, even to the US,
except I’m going for a visit. I won’t go to anywhere outside this
country to hustle anymore. There is nothing happening anywhere. I have
tasted and I have seen. There is nothing there,” said Mr. Obe, 35,
puffing away on his cigarette .

In February 2004,
the journey that was to take him across the Sahara Desert began. “We
left Benin to Kano, from Kano to Katsina, and then to Zinder (in Niger
Republic). When we got to Zinder we bought the food that we will eat. I
was thinking it was going to be a journey that will take, like they
said, three to four days,” recalls Mr. Obe.

Never did he know
that he will spend more than eight months before he gets to his
destination, Spain. At Zinder, they bought garri, sardine, and other
accessories like blanket, and then boarded a Peugeot wagon. “We were
about ten of us, the journey was wquite okay then . ,” says Mr. Obe.
“When we got to Agadez (in Niger Republic), we spent about five days in
an uncompleted building. There is no rain, just sun. We were eating
garri, sardine and all that. When we left Agadez heading to Duruku, we
spent about seven days. The journey was not easy, a lot of problems,
stress. I told the person that brought me that he should have told me,
I don’t think I can continue this journey,” he says.

The journey begins

According to the
travellers across the Sahara; Duruku, a military camp in the desert
built with coconut thatches and palm fronds, is where the actual
journey begins. At Duruku, Mr. Obe ran out of food supplies, though his
roll of dollars, hidden safely inside his anus, remained intact. “I had
about N500,000 which I’d changed into dollars, wrapped with aluminium
foil, rolled with cello tape and palmed (inserted) into my anus. “If
you want to buy something, you’d go to a corner and push and it will
come out. You’ll just wash it. You are always with cello tape and
cigarette.” With the money he had, he paid his $200 fare to Gatrone, a
village in Southern Libya.

“We spent about 14
days on the road. That was when many of us died. It was not the
distance, it was the desert. Sometimes we passed the sand, sometimes
through the midst of rocks. I’d been hearing about desert but I had
never seen it till I saw it. When we were going, our water got
finished. No water, no food, nothing. A lot of people could not cope.
Someone would just slump and die.” On getting to Sabha, a major hub for
illegal passenger buses arriving from the Republic of Niger, Mr. Obe
tried his hands on menial jobs, for about two months, to sustain
himself.

“There was no job,
when we got to Libya we were like brooms, these hairs became bushy,”
says Mr. Obe, pointing to his head, and lighting another cigarette.

After traversing
three other inner cities, he eventually arrived at Tripoli, and then
continued to the next city. “In all these journeys, the whole Libya was
not the place for me. I see a lot of guys who were learning barometer
(welding of exhaust pipes). There are workshops, very tattered places,
no plastering, nothing. They would rent it out to kamarat (a name for
blacks by Libyans).

“So we learned the
barometer. Even if you don’t know how to do it, you’d claim that you
know how to do it. You will sit with somebody who has been doing it for
three, four days and you’ll just know it. Because the major thing is
that they don’t want their vehicles to be making noise. So they will
just bring it and we will tack it. After tacking, they’ll pay one
Dinar, almost equivalent to one Dollar.”

Road to Europe

Not satisfied with
the menial job, Mr. Obe, along with his friend and companion, decided
to find a way to Italy. From Libya, they crossed to Algeria, and
finally to Morocco. “When we got to Morocco, we moved gradually and got
to Rabat. Sometimes people cross from Rabat to Spain. But we left Rabat
to Tangier.” “From there I succeeded in crossing with balloon, an
inflated boat with a Yamaha engine that carries up to 50 people.” Mr.
Obe said that he thought he had finally struck gold getting to Europe.
But he was wrong.

After moving from
Zaragoza through Barcelona, to Valencia and Madrid, he was arrested. “I
stayed in Valencia with a friend because my intention was to go to
Germany and then US. But when I got to Madrid, I was in Torreon, where
you have most blacks.” In 2007, Mr. Obe was deported from Spain.

Mr. Obe, who now
works at an outfit that provides essential services to companies in
Apapa, says the experience had been one of the lowest points of his
life.

“If you set up a small business like selling of recharge cards, if
you are wise ,you will fare better than someone who travelled. Whatever
you are doing with a rest of mind, if you are doing something genuine,
stick to that thing and just manage your life. It’s not compulsory that
everybody must drive a jeep,” said Mr. Obe.

In the last few
years, Nigeria has successfully launched two satellites: a
geo-stationary earth orbit and a communication satellite. Another earth
observation satellite, Nigeriasat-2 is due for launch in May.

Authorities are
also building small units of satellites, called Pico satellites. The
satellites, will also be used in supplying real time information on
ecological problems and emergency situations.

In this interview,
the chief executive of the Centre for Satellite Technology Development
(CSTD) Abuja, Spencer Onu, speaks on Nigeria’s progress in satellite
technology. Excerpts:

The Pico satellites

The project has
progressed. We are working very hard and as I speak to you, somebody is
already in the United States getting the components for the satellite
for us. We are going to be ready in June. By then, we must have
achieved significant milestones. We have passed beyond the design
stage, done critical review, and are now procuring major component and
subsystems. The next step is to get it space qualified by going through
a number of tests involving sending signals and receiving responses on
ground and, after that, we think of the launch. By December, we will be
ready for launch, although we missed a step in the process in terms of
frequency allocation. But we discussed with the Nigeria Communications
Commission and they advised us to use microwave, which does not require
ITU approval.

N5 billion annually from pico satellite

Normally it will
cost about $30 million to build pico satellites for such size, but we
are looking at spending $80million considering other logistics
associated with it. The economic impact is enormous, because you are
looking at satellite that can generate information worth more than a
billion naira in a year when fully operational. This will be generated
from sales of satellite imageries. We are to produce images needed for
African economies. Images such as those required for emergency
management and monitoring of projects like the Millennium Development
Goals. We are still talking with the MDGs office, to let them see what
we can offer them and what we can do together. How we are going to do
it is that the MDGs office can tell us, look we have this number of
projects in Kwara State. These are the latitudes and longitudes, these
are photographs from contractors, can you give us images of the
projects? I think what they are experiencing now is that projects
people claim to be there are not there. So, with our satellite
imageries, they can compare with images submitted by the contractors.
The satellite will be programmed in such a way that it passes through
Nigeria four times a day. When you look at our projection for the MGDs
office alone, they will need images worth about N3 billion alone in a
year. That is just a sector in Nigeria. There is the National Emergency
Management Agency and others that use Geographic Information System. We
are looking at generating about N5billion annually from Nigeria alone.
Other African countries are market for us as well.

Inadequate human capital

Our vision is
continental leadership for satellite technology development, but South
Africa seems to be ahead of us. South Africa satellite agency spends
$0.08 billion annually on their satellite programme, while Nigeria
spends $0.06 billion. They are using pico satellites in South Africa
and they have launched about two, one of them late last year. Also a
number of universities in the United States do this in conjunction with
the private sector. In the United Kingdom, the European Space Agency
runs a programme for the universities and builds about nine every other
year. Some countries have 12 or 13 of this satellites in order to get
as much information as possible.

If we want to be
leaders, then we should be steps ahead. Our sister agency in South
Africa has more than 300 PhD holders, with both support staff scientist
and engineers. As a research centre, I am the only PhD, while 5 others
are undergoing training. By our roadmap, I would have trained 50 PhD
holders. We do not have adequate human capital for the project in
Nigeria; but we are working in collaboration with international
organizations whom we have discussed with and they are willing to be
involved in the launch. We are also working on micro satellite but,
because of its size, I don’t see the work completed in the next one
year. That has 15 staff on it. It is a replica of Nigeria-sat 1.

Two more bandwidths from ITU

We are already
talking of a number of communication satellites. Nigeria has not got
any communication satellite in space. We will manufacture and hand over
to any service providers like NIGCOMSAT that will market the
transponders. That was what took us to ITU last month to make sure we
are allocated the two communication satellites. We have been allocated
the bandwidth we require for two communication satellites that will be
launched in the next five years and I can tell you that has been done.
Ministry of communications, NCC, NIGCOMSAT, NASRDA were involved to
secure two additional slots for the next communication satellites. We
are also involved in satellite transport and propulsion. Our staff will
be trained on taking satellite to space.

We have a mission
that in 2018 we will be able to produce a made in Nigeria satellite and
by 2025 we will be able to launch a made in Nigeria satellite. Those
are the things we are working towards, but we need to have the Assembly
Integration and Testing centre in place. If that is not done, our quest
for a made in Nigeria satellite will just be a dream. It is the heart
of satellite technology. The building is ongoing, about 50 per cent
completed but the equipment is yet to be procured. Contract is yet to
be signed with the Chinese because the monetary approval is not in
place.