Nigeria to have satellite launched in China

ABUJA - Nigeria is to have its communication satellite NIGCOMSAT1R launched in China next week, the government announced on Wednesday.

The planned launch comes three years after the first communication satellite was deorbited in 2008.

The new satellite is to be blasted off at no cost to the government and that is because NIGCOMSAT 1 was fully insured.

Nigerian Minister of Communication Technology Omobolaji Johnson told reporters in the capital Abuja that the new satellite is a replacement of NIGCOMSAT1 which was deorbited in 2008.

She added that NIGCOMSAT 1R will complement the efforts of the ministry of communications technology to roll out assisting infrastructure both in rural, semi urban and urban areas.