<P> Communication and Information Technology to provide efficient and reliable telecommunications services for Nigeria in order to enhance the growth of the industrial, commercial and administrative sectors of the economy . </P> <P> Defence and Security . The Federal Government shall develop a necessary Space Science Technology (SST) programme that will address the national needs of Nigeria . For this purpose the government shall establish a Defence Space Command in the Ministry of Defence . The Command shall comprise representatives of the defence, intelligence, security and law enforcement services and report through the Ministry of Defence to the National Space Council . </P> <P> Five satellites have been launched by the Nigerian government into outer space . Early plans to launch a national satellite in 1976 were not executed . The NigeriaSat - 1 was the first Nigerian satellite and built by a United Kingdom - based satellite technology company, Surrey Space Technology Limited (SSTL ltd) under the Nigerian government sponsorship for $30 million . The satellite was launched by Kosmos - 3M rocket from Russian Plesetsk spaceport on 27 September 2003 . Nigeriasat - 1 was part of the world - wide Disaster Monitoring Constellation System . The primary objectives of the Nigeriasat - 1 were: to give early warning signals of environmental disaster; to help detect and control desertification in the northern part of Nigeria; to assist in demographic planning; to establish the relationship between vectors and the environment that breeds malaria and to give early warning signals on future outbreaks of meningitis using remote sensing technology; to provide the technology needed to bring education to all parts of the country through distant learning; and to aid in conflict resolution and border disputes by mapping out state and International borders . </P> <P> NigeriaSat - 2 and NigeriaSat - X, Nigeria's third and fourth satellites, were built as a high - resolution earth satellite by SSTL for DMC system also . It has 2.5 - metre resolution panchromatic (very high resolution), 5 - metre multispectral (high resolution, NIR red, green and red bands), and 32 - metre multispectral (medium resolution, NIR red, green and red bands) antennas . The NigeriaSat - 2 / X spacecraft was built at a cost of over £ 35 million . This satellite was launched into orbit by Ukrainian Dnepr rocket from a Yasny military base in Russia on 17 August 2011 . </P>

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