NASRDA says six-satellite procurement is 95% complete, contracts due in November

Nigeria's National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) says procurement for six satellites approved by the Federal Executive Council has reached 95 per cent, as first reported by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after an interview with Director-General Matthew Adepoju in Abuja on 2 October 2026.

The package comprises three optical Earth observation satellites at sub-metre resolution, one synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite at one-metre and sub-metre resolution, and two communications satellites, NigComSat-2A and 2B. Adepoju said they are not nanosatellites and that funding has been approved. NAN put the programme's estimated cost at $2 billion, to be delivered through several partners. It named Israel Aerospace Industries and France's Thales Alenia Space for the two communications satellites, and said China Great Wall Industry Corporation is also involved.

Adepoju said an MoU and contractual agreements with foreign technical partners are due to be signed at the African Space Economic Conference in November. NASRDA is also to build an Assembly, Integration and Testing Laboratory, which he said should be commissioned 18 months after contract signature and would support local manufacture of a new generation of satellites.

He added that Nigeria is tightening oversight of its space sector through regulation and spectrum management, and said more missions would be declared soon.

Why it matters: Sub-metre optical and SAR satellites would give Nigeria sovereign high-resolution data, with a local assembly and test facility building domestic skills. Practitioners will want to know the data access policy, which builders are chosen and where the ground segment sits.

Sources: News Agency of Nigeria; Military Africa