The Chief of Defence Space Adminstration (DSA) of the Armed Forces of Nigerians Defence Headquarters, Rear Admiral Nnamdi Muogilim has appealed to the Ecological Project Office (EPO) to intervene in the flooding issue threatening its critical space infrastructure situated at the Defense Space School, Orogun, Delta State and the Space Innovation, Assembling and Test Centre, Epe, Lagos, State.
He explained that these were part of the critical ground structures established in its satellite launch system.
He said this during a courtesy visit to the Permanent Secretary of the Ecological Project Office (EPO), Shehu Ibrahim, in his office.
He further explained that the centres were key in building critical capacity to assist the federal government achieve its security mandate to Nigerians, adding that the agency is saddled with the responsibility of using cyber space defence mechanism to implement President’s directive in tackling the security challenge in the country
According to him, ‘the federal government wants to hand over a country free of security challenges to the incoming adminstration, therefore the security agencies were tasked and our task at the Defence Space is to use the cyber and space domains to support the defense and security agencies operations towards achieving the Commander-in-Chief’s directives on a security free country”.
The EPO Permanent Secretary, Shehu Ibrahim commended the federal government for providing such critical infrastructure and capacity to secure the country’s air and land space, explaining that security of the nation was one the nine priorities areas of the government that needs priority attention. He assured that efforts will be made to ensure their concerns were addressed and remedied.
He commended the Chief of Defense Space Administration for the visit and request for intervention, stating that it is a watershed engagement in the relationship between the office and security agency.
He however advised the agency to follow up on the request by putting in writing a formal request with accompanying drawings, Bill of Engineering and Measurement Evaluation (BEME) and the cost estimates for the required intervention to enable the office in the critical evaluation of the problem.
In a related event, the Permanent Secretary, said the Jigawa state has suffered the devastating effect of perennial flooding urging the state government to conduct a feasibility study to ascertain the cause of the menace and the possible solution.
Receiving the Chairman of Hadejia Local Government Area, Jigawa State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Umar, the Permanent Secretary said the perennial flooding is well known in the country with Hadejia being one of the worst locations in the State most affected annually.
Speaking earlier, the chairman, Alhaji Abdulkadir Umar said the Council was grappling with the huge issue of annual flooding, land degradation and erosion scourge.
He said the challenges were enormous and beyond the financial capacity of the council and the state as a whole, hence the plea for assistance at the Federal level.
