# Nigeria Nears Contracts for Six New Satellites, NASRDA Says

- Link: https://www.military.africa/2026/11/nigeria-nears-contracts-for-six-new-satellites-nasrda-says/
- Published: 2026-11-09T10:46:31+01:00
- Author: Ekene Lionel

Nigeria’s National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) says the procurement
process for six new satellites approved by President Bola Tinubu’s administration
has reached 95 per cent completion, with contracts due to be signed with foreign
technical partners in November. NASRDA Director-General Professor Matthew Adepoju
gave the update in an interview with the [News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)](https://nannews.ng/procurement-%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0/)
in Abuja on Friday, 2 October 2026.

Adepoju said the satellites were approved to strengthen Nigeria’s space programme
and replace ageing space assets. The package comprises three optical Earth observation
satellites, one synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite and two communications 
satellites, NigComSat-2A and NigComSat-2B. “Currently, there is a procurement procedure
which we are at 95 per cent level now,” he said. “Very soon, at the African Space
Economic Conference coming up in November, we will be signing an MoU and contractual
agreement with our foreign technical partners.”

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The event he referred to is the Africa Space Economy, Innovation and Communication
Conference (ASEICC 2026), which [NASRDA will host in Abuja from 24 to 27 November](https://central.nasrda.gov.ng/aseicc-2026-call-for-exhibitors-sponsors/)
with support from the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

## Sub-Metre Optical and Radar Imaging

Adepoju stressed that the new spacecraft are not nanosatellites, the small satellites
of roughly one to ten kilograms that many African programmes have used to build 
early capability, and said funding for the programme had been approved. “We have
three optical satellites to be launched at sub-metre resolution. We have Synthetic
Aperture Radar to be launched at one-metre and sub-metre resolution, then communication
satellites, which come as 2A and 2B,” he said.

The Earth observation element picks up from the plan Military Africa reported in
August, when Nigeria set out to [procure four new satellites for military surveillance](https://www.military.africa/2026/08/nigeria-to-procure-4-new-satellites-for-military-surveillance/).
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved that package of three optical satellites,
reported under the working names NigeriaSat-3, NigeriaSat-4 and NigeriaSat-5, and
one SAR satellite in May 2025. The latest figure of six satellites adds the two 
NigComSat communications spacecraft to those four.

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The SAR satellite carries the most direct military value. Radar imaging works at
night and through cloud and rain, conditions that limit optical satellites over 
the forests of the north-east and the creeks of the Niger Delta. Former Minister
of Innovation, Science and Technology Uche Nnaji said in 2025 that Nigerian forces
currently buy commercial imagery when tracking armed groups in areas such as the
Sambisa forest. The Defence Space Administration (DSA), which operates Nigeria’s
first military satellite, [DELSAT-1](https://www.military.africa/2023/01/nigerias-first-military-satellite-delsat-1-to-counter-threats-to-national-security/),
is expected to be a main user of the radar data.

![Artist's impression of the NigComSat-2A geostationary communications satellite
over Africa](https://www.military.africa/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/nigcomsat-2a-
thales-alenia-space-render.webp)

Artist’s impression of NigComSat-2A, which Thales Alenia Space is building on its
Spacebus B2 platform. (Image: Thales Alenia Space/E. Briot) [Image enhanced]

## NigComSat-2A and 2B

The communications satellites are further advanced than the rest of the package.
The FEC approved the acquisition and deployment of NigComSat-2A and NigComSat-2B
on 22 August 2026, with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and France’s Thales Alenia
Space selected as manufacturers, according to state operator Nigerian Communications
Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT). On 14 September, [Thales Alenia Space announced](https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/news-centre/press-releases/thales-alenia-space-wins-nigcomsat-contract-build-nigcomsat-2a)
it had signed a contract to build NigComSat-2A, a geostationary satellite on its
Spacebus B2 platform with a launch mass of close to four tonnes and an expected 
service life of more than 15 years. It will carry a C-, Ku-, Ka- and L-band payload
covering West, Central and Southern Africa, [Space in Africa reported](https://spaceinafrica.com/2026/09/14/thales-alenia-space-wins-contract-to-build-nigcomsat-2a/).
That leaves IAI as the expected builder of NigComSat-2B, although Israel’s [Calcalist](https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjbravopfx)
had earlier reported the reverse allocation.

NIGCOMSAT Managing Director Nkechi Jane Egerton-Idehen has said 2A is targeted for
launch in 2028 and 2B in 2029. The two satellites will replace NigComSat-1R, which
China built and launched in December 2011 after the original NigComSat-1 failed 
in orbit in 2008, and which is approaching the end of its 15-year design life. The
choice of European and Israeli builders ends the Chinese role in Nigeria’s communications
satellite programme that began in 2007. NIGCOMSAT has also said the satellites will
support secure communications for national security and defence.

NAN reported that the whole programme is estimated to cost $2 billion and will be
delivered through several international partners, adding that China Great Wall Industry
Corporation (CGWIC) is also involved. Other reports describe CGWIC as one of the
bidders, alongside Airbus and Turkish Aerospace, in the NigComSat competition that
Thales and IAI won, and its role in the wider package has not been set out publicly.
The cost figures also differ: Calcalist put the combined value of the two communications
satellite deals alone at about $2 billion, while [TechCabal](https://pro.edgex.exchange/en-US/news/article/nigeria-thales-alenia-iai-nigcomsat-2)
reported that the final contract cost had not been disclosed because vendor financing
backed by export-import banks was still being closed. NIGCOMSAT rejected allegations
of irregularities in the procurement in September, saying it followed the Public
Procurement Act.

## A New Assembly, Integration and Testing Laboratory

Adepoju said NASRDA would also build a new Assembly, Integration and Testing Laboratory(
AITL) to improve Nigeria’s capacity to develop satellites locally, with end-to-end
capability for satellite assembly, integration and testing and support for manufacturing
a new generation of spacecraft. “One of the beautiful things that we are going to
do is to build our new Assembly, Integration and Testing Laboratory, which is end-
to-end,” he said. “That is where we will be manufacturing a new set of satellites,
and that is why I said we are going to declare new missions very soon.”

He said the laboratory would be completed within 18 months of signing the contract.“
We have the timeline from the day of signing the contract to commissioning, and 
that is 18 months,” he said. Nigeria has built satellites with foreign partners 
before, including NigeriaSat-X, which Nigerian engineers assembled under a training
programme with Surrey Satellite Technology in the United Kingdom, but has lacked
a full domestic facility of this kind.

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## Tighter Regulation of the Space Sector

The NASRDA chief said the agency was also strengthening regulation and spectrum 
management to improve oversight of activity in Nigeria’s space sector. “Gone are
the days that foreign companies and partners come and do whatever they like in our
space sector,” he said. “Now we monitor, we manage and ensure that the abuses of
the past are no longer repeated in this country.”

Adepoju urged young Nigerians to explore opportunities in the space sector, saying
innovation did not always require large financial resources. He said investment 
in space technology and other critical infrastructure would support Nigeria’s long-
term economic goals, including its target of a $1 trillion economy. NASRDA has also
been courting private investors ahead of ASEICC, and has worked with Nigerian firms
such as Proforce, with which it signed a [space technology memorandum of understanding in 2022](https://www.military.africa/2022/08/proforce-nasdra-signs-mou-on-space-tech/).

## Signatures Due at the Obasanjo Space Centre

The November conference will test whether the 95 per cent figure turns into signed
contracts for the Earth observation and radar satellites, whose builders NASRDA 
has not named. If signatures follow, the AITL timeline would put the laboratory 
into service by around mid-2028, the same year NigComSat-2A is due in orbit. For
the armed forces, the SAR satellite would offer a sovereign source of all-weather
imagery to add to DELSAT-1, reducing reliance on purchased commercial data, provided
NASRDA and the DSA settle how tasking is shared between the civilian agency and 
the military users it is meant to serve.

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