Nigeria Advances Approval of Contract Award for Four Earth Observation Satellites

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 11, Nigeria's Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Kingsley Udeh stated at a press conference held in Abuja that the procurement of the country's four new Earth observation satellites has completed international competitive bidding and entered the stage of recommending candidate suppliers for the award, which will next be submitted to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval of the contract award. The procurement involves enterprises from China, Israel, Europe, the United States, and Nigeria. The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) have participated in verifying the technical capabilities of suppliers.

The four satellites include three optical Earth observation satellites and one synthetic aperture radar satellite (SAR). Among them, the optical satellites mainly undertake surface imaging and remote sensing observation tasks, while the radar satellite can acquire surface imagery under day-and-night and cloudy or rainy conditions, making it suitable for border monitoring, security reconnaissance, and continuous observation under complex weather conditions. The Federal Executive Council of Nigeria approved the launch plan for these four satellites in May 2025, and the current procurement work has further advanced to the stage of supplier selection and contract approval.

This round of international procurement is jointly participated in by the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, NASRDA, and BPP. Relevant departments have conducted on-site inspections of the production facilities of some selected satellite manufacturers to verify their manufacturing capabilities, technical conditions, and relevant commitments in their bidding documents. The Minister stated that because the project involves a relatively large-scale capital investment, the final contract award still requires further approval by the Federal Executive Council.

After the satellites are completed, in addition to meeting Nigeria's domestic needs, the government also plans to provide relevant satellite services to other African countries in need, exploring regional data service cooperation and commercial revenue sources. The project mainly targets national security, environmental monitoring, and Earth observation applications, involving satellite manufacturing, data acquisition, and subsequent service operations.

Udeh disclosed that the Lagos State Government has allocated land in the Epe area for the proposed satellite propulsion and transportation facility. The project originated from recommendations on indigenous space infrastructure development put forward at a previous African space economy conference. The Nigerian government has also proposed strengthening indigenous satellite design, manufacturing, and engineering talent cultivation to gradually expand the participation capacity of the domestic space industry.