The Chairman, Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Prof. Robert Boroffice, has called on the Federal Government to make it an offence punishable by law for any government ministry, department or agency to imports satellite images.
He made the call during the oversight function of the committee to the National Space Research and Development Agency in Abuja.
In a statement by the Head, Media and Corporate Affairs, NASRDA, Mr. Felix Ale, on Tuesday, Boroffice was quoted as saying it was wrong for government agencies to continually spend huge sums of money to purchase satellite images outside Nigeria when those images were available at the nation’s space agency.
He said such a practice was unpatriotic, fraudulent and against the noble objectives of the present administration.
“In India, for example, it is a punishable offence to embark on any indigenous project without using satellite images of the nation’s space agency,” he said, adding that the story was not different in the United States.
According to him, the Act establishing NASRDA stipulates that it shall be the repository of all satellite data all over Nigeria’s territory, and accordingly, all collaborations and consultations in space data-related matters in Nigeria shall be carried out or undertaken by or with the agency.