Nigeria’s sleeping satellites: How $700m in space assets could curb insecurity

As Nigeria confronts a deepening security emergency that has claimed thousands of lives, displaced millions and crippled economic activities across the North-West and North-Central regions, a powerful weapon sits largely idle in orbit: the country’s own satellites.

In the past two decades, Nigeria has invested more than $700 million (about N1.2 trillion at current rates) into communications and earth-observation satellites that experts say can be rapidly deployed to track bandits, intercept their communications, and provide secure, jam-proof links to troops in remote areas.

Despite worsening violence, successive governments have failed to fully harness these assets, forcing the military to depend on costly foreign platforms and fragile terrestrial networks.

An official of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), who spoke to BusinessDay on the condition of anonymity, revealed that the agency has always worked with the military, providing surveillance data, terrain imagery, and reconnaissance support for field operations. But these contributions, he admitted, are limited and often constrained by outdated infrastructure and slow execution of government approvals.

“We provide satellite data that helps the Armed Forces plan operations. Some of the work involves sensitive national security issues, so it is not publicised. Even from the early stages of our satellite programme, military officers were part of the training, the design phase, and even the launch of NigeriaSat-2 in the U.K. and KOMPSAT-1 work in China. So, the collaboration has always been there,” the official said.

Yet, as Nigeria faces some of its worst security incidents, including the kidnapping of over 300 schoolchildren and teachers in recent months, stakeholders say the country’s satellite investments remain largely under-exploited.

Beyond deaths and displacements, the economic toll is severe. “Insecurity affects farmers because they cannot safely access their land. It raises the cost of transporting food due to risks and checkpoints. These are major contributors to high inflation,” said Mathew Verghis, World Bank country director for Nigeria, in an interview.

Jane Egerton-Idehen, managing director/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), issued what sounded like a national wake-up call, stating, “We have the tools. Now we must use them.”

Six satellites, zero excuses

Nigeria currently operates several satellites that were designed with dual-use (civilian and military) potential. For instance, NigComSat-1R (launched 2011), a communications satellite that replaced the failed NigComSat-1, provides broadband coverage across Africa and remains fully operational. Its cost is over $300 million, with a $250 million loan from China Exim Bank.

NigeriaSat-1 (2003), NigeriaSat-2, and NigeriaSat-X (2011) are high-resolution earth-observation satellites built by UK-based Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). These platforms can deliver images with resolution as fine as 2.5 metres, more than sufficient to spot bandit camps, vehicle movements, and hideouts in forests and rocky terrain. The combined cost is approximately $50 million. A sixth satellite, NigeriaSat-2, continues to provide imagery despite reaching the end of its original design life.

These assets are maintained by NASRDA, which received N37 billion in the 2025 budget, a clear indication that the political will to sustain space infrastructure exists. According to NASRDA, they should be central to national surveillance and military reconnaissance.

Egerton-Idehen outlined several capabilities that require no new satellite launches. She said Nigeria’s existing platforms can provide encrypted voice, data, and video links to troops in regions with no mobile coverage.

“Troops moving through Zamfara, Katsina, or Gwari often have no mobile network. Our satellite can give them encrypted voice, data, and video links that cannot be jammed or intercepted by criminals using cheap radio equipment,” she said.

NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X can be re-tasked within hours to focus on hotspots. “We can identify where these criminals are camping, the routes they use to move cattle or kidnap victims, and even monitor seasonal grazing routes that trigger farmer-herder clashes,” she explained.

While NigComSat-1R was built primarily for civilian broadband, its transponders can be configured to carry military-grade encryption and, with additional ground equipment, support signals intelligence operations. Drones, forward operating bases, and rapid-response units could all be linked through a sovereign Nigerian satellite network, reducing dependence on foreign providers whose data may transit servers outside Nigeria’s control.

When asked why this hasn’t happened already, multiple sources within the security establishment, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited bureaucratic inertia, inter-agency rivalry, and a lingering mindset.

One senior military officer told our correspondent, “We keep hearing discussions are ongoing. Meanwhile, soldiers are dying because they can’t call for air support when they are ambushed in areas with no GSM coverage.”

Egerton-Idehen confirmed that while conversations with the Defence Headquarters, the Office of the National Security Adviser, and the Nigerian Army have intensified in recent months, formal take-off orders for widespread operational use are still pending. “There are laws and executive orders that already mandate the use of national critical infrastructure. The framework exists. What we need now is implementation,” she noted.

President Bola Tinubu had recently approved the development of four new satellites, which NASRDA says will greatly enhance real-time monitoring, national mapping, and intelligence support for the military. But funds have not yet been released. “The approval is there, but we are still waiting for funding. Once the satellites are built and launched, they will significantly improve what we can do,” the NASRDA official averred.

Meanwhile, existing satellites are aging. NigeriaSat-1, NigeriaSat-2, and NigeriaSat-X are well beyond their design lifespan, relying on extended maintenance to remain functional.

As for NIGCOMSAT, it is already in the procurement process for a next-generation satellite to replace an aging asset, with launch expected around 2028. The new platform will incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning tools for automated anomaly detection, essentially teaching the satellite to flag suspicious movement in real time.

But Egerton-Idehen insisted the country cannot wait half a decade while the banditry crisis spirals. “Even while we plan the future, we should have assets today that are working perfectly. Add some software upgrades, train the analysts, integrate with the Air Force’s UAV programme, we can achieve a lot of what we need within 12 months if the decision is taken tomorrow.”

The urgency is underscored by the country’s delicate economic progress. Nigeria is projected to attract over $20 billion in foreign portfolio investments by end-2025, the highest on record. But renewed waves of abductions, especially in North-Central and North-West states, risk eroding investor confidence and undermining macroeconomic reforms.

Security analysts estimate that effective use of Nigeria’s satellites could reduce response times to kidnap incidents by hours, disrupt bandit supply lines, and provide the intelligence backbone for the kind of sustained, intelligence-led operations that finally degraded Boko Haram in the North-East.(BusinessDay)