ARCSSTEE scored another first when it organized an Annual Lecture on Thurday, 13th October 2011. The lecture which was the high point of the 2011 World Space Week was titled, "Space in the revitalization of Nigeria's Economy" and delivered by Dr. Adigun Ade Abiodun, a former Chairman of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and currently serves as Adviser to the Nigerian Delegation to COPUOS. In an inspiring but thought provoking lecture, Dr. Abiodun who is also the founder of African Space Foundation remarked that before the discovery of oil, Nigeria was a significant producer of coal, bauxite, gold, iron ore, leather and textile. He stated that agricuture alone accounted for 60% of Nigeria's GDP while at the same time a major exporter of food but lamented that today the reverse is the case as Nigeria in now a major importer of food.

Dr. Adigun asked that “if for any reason oil production is thwarted in the future, how would Nigeria advance economically?” Thus making Space Technology an indispensible tool in revitalizing the economy of Nigeria as data from satellite systems can make vital contributions to the understanding and analysis of the nation's economic environment. Continuing, the guest lecturer opined that Nigeria could use existing space assets to gather and transmit information on the state of knowledge of those components of the nation's economic activities that are at risk while the results of experiments conducted on research satellites and on-board space vehicles can also make very vital contributions. He alighted with examples different areas of Nigeria's economy and the role space can play to address them.

Defining Revitalization as the allocation by the legislative and executive arms of government, of appropriate financial means for translating space-related recommendations, on the diversification of the Nigerian economy, into practical programmes and related actions. Revitalization also demands that Nigeria fosters and nurtures knowledge generation and development as well as deploys requisite technologies at home. The lecture ended with the speaker advising that Nigeria must use the outcome of such efforts in a timely manner to arrive at informed decisions for the good of the nation and its people and that she can do so, if she chooses or wants to. Read More >>>

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