The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited has said its upcoming NigComSat-2A and 2B satellites will play a crucial role in tackling insecurity by tracking criminals and solving communication breakdowns faced by military personnel on the frontline .
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NIGCOMSAT, Jane Nkechi Egerton-Idehen, stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, saying the new space assets will enhance technical support for Nigeria’s defence and security architecture .
“Satellite comes in, and we can track criminals with it. Surveillance is part of the things you can do with satellites, yes. So, if there’s a kidnapping somewhere—because these are the actual realities that we’re dealing with—with the development of 2A and 2B, without divulging too much, there are a lot of ways you can do surveillance,” she said .
“If there’s a digital map there, that means if there’s access to technology, of course there are things you can track and survey. It depends on what’s on the person. Sometimes you can use imagery, like I’ve said. You can use imagery, especially if you have trackers. Without, you know, trying to be too detailed, yes, technology can be used for surveillance,” Egerton-Idehen added .
She highlighted the communication challenges facing security forces during operations in remote places, noting that some existing channels are often compromised, leaving troops cut off from command and control centres .
“We have our armed forces or the people in the defence sector, and sometimes their biggest challenge is communication. You’re going to put them in Sambisa Forest to go and fight there, and there is no way to talk to command and control. That is very difficult. And sometimes there is a way, but it’s not secure because it gets compromised, and they get compromised. That’s what we’re saying,” she said .
But she explained that the high-capacity technology will help in addressing that. “That’s what we want to enable our defence sector to do—and not just to enable them in a small way, but also at a large scale. So there’s a lot of focus to do this so that we can support them; they do need those tools,” Egerton-Idehen said .
She appealed to Nigerians to be patient over the delivery timeline for the satellite projects and assured them that they have long-term benefits that will transform the country’s security architecture and digital economy .
The Federal Executive Council had earlier approved the purchase and deployment of NIGCOMSAT-2A and NIGCOMSAT-2B to help expand internet access and improve connectivity across Nigeria . The Federal Government has set 2028 for the launch of 2A and 2029 for 2B, with the satellites to be delivered by Israel Aerospace Industries and Thales Alenia Space of France .
