The Nigerian government Wednesday contracted a Chinese firm, the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, to build and launch a communication satellite for the west African country next year, science and technology minister Turner Isoun said.
“We hope the project will be completed and the satellite will be launched in 2006,” Isoun told journalists after a cabinet meeting here.
The project, which would cost between 250 (196 million euros) and 300 million dollars, has a life span of more than 15 years and is expected to generate about 200 million dollars per year, he said.
He did not give further details how the revenue would be generated.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, registered itself in space technology for the first time in September 2003 when it launched a mini-remote sensing satellite, coded Nigeria SAT I.
“Our effort in launching SAT I gave us the confidence and motivation to go into communication satellite,” the minister said.
Nigeria SAT I has a life span of between five and 10 years, he said.
