Nigeria is set to borrow $550 million from a Chinese bank to finance two new satellites, this was announced by thte country’s communication technology minister, Bayo Shittu.
He disclosed that talks are already underway with the Chinese Exim Bank and had secured assurances from the bank to provide the money.
“If you know the amount of data that goes out in keeping Nigeria’s data in foreign satellites, it runs into billions of dollars. So, we can do the needful,” he said.
Explaining the new satellites, the minister said the proposed satellites they would be built in China
“Once that is done, we can beat our chest and say nobody should take Nigerian money outside for the purpose of storing data. I am confident that with Federal Government’s approval, we will get what we want. NigComSat has just one satellite and leaving NigComSat, with just one satellite is like someone traveling by road from Kaduna to Lagos. He goes to garage, board a car without a spare tyre. The fear will be that any of the tyres could burst on the way. Passengers will prefer to look for vehicles with not only spare tyres but with good tyres.”
