NigComSat not missing, government assures

In response to rumors circulating on Tuesday, the Nigerian federal government announced that the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComSat), worth 40 billion Nigerian naira, has not disappeared from orbit.

The non-visibility of the satellite was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology in Abuja, but the minister of science and technology, Alhassan Zaku, announced Wednesday that it has merely been parked for repairs.

"Our engineers who are manning the ground station here in Abuja noticed that the satellite in the orbit was not being recharged; usually this is supposed to happen via solar energy," Zaku explained. "Usually, when it is not being recharged, it losses energy very fast, so when they noticed that, they quickly reported to the managing director."

The station in China, where NigComSat was built and launched, noticed the irregularity as well, and engineers in both countries decided to park the satellite in order to avoid further damage.

The minister assured telecommunications customers relying on NigComSat that their services would be migrated to another transponder at no cost.

No time frame for the satellite's return to orbit was revealed, but it will be temporarily replaced with an existing satellite if repairs go on for a long period of time, Zaku said.

Meanwhile, NigComSat managing director Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai recently stated that the proposed NigComSat-2 and -3 are part of a project to expand satellite coverage.