NASRDA Needs More Funding To Function Effectively – Mamora

The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), Dr. Adeleke Mamora, has said the National Space Research Development Agency (NASRDA) needs more funding to function effectively. Mamora said this when he featured in a special interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The minister said the agency wanted to have its space port and launch its homegrown satellite but had a limited factor of funding issues. “We want to ensure that we launch our own satellite, not that we didn’t have one before. I recall that we had satellite one, which had since been replaced by satellite two years ago. We want to be sure that we launch our own satellite that is home-grown and we will have a space port where we can also launch any other thing operating within the realm of the space.

 “NASRDA is trying to put in place pollinatarium, where you can watch celestial bodies. We can also create space museum and all that. These are things that are not beyond us but the limiting factor is the issue of funding,” he said.

Mamora said the Federal Government was making efforts to get the best space economy, adding that it would serve as an advantage in the area of knowledge based economy. He said: “What I know is that efforts are being put in place to get the best, in terms of space economy, where we can take advantage of the knowledge-based economy. “We have people who are endowed and can inject that knowledge into the system in whatever area to make our system better and to assist and hasten our socio-economic development.

“There are so many efforts in that direction with regard to maximising benefits from knowledge of our people regarding getting the benefits of space technology, which is in a variety of ways. Related to that is using satellite for observation and communication. You can extrapolate that to whatever. NASRDA are so anxious to get Nigerians benefit for the satellite.”

(thenationonlineng.net)