Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has lauded the military for its plans to establish a Defence Space Communication Satellite Centre in the state.
Fayemi said this while receiving Chief of Defense Space Administration (DSA), Rear Admiral Williams Kayoda in his office in Ado Ekiti.
Mr Olayinka Oyebode, Chief Press Secretary to the governor said in a statement on Friday in Ado Ekiti.
According to him, the governor said the benefits of the initiative to the state was enormous, adding that the state could not afford to miss the opportunity.
Fayemi said that his administration was working towards establishment of a Knowledge Zone where about 1,500 hectares of land has already been procured, adding that the proximity of the satellite centre to the zone was an added advantage.
“What I can assure you is that for us, we are absolutely committed to ensuring that this works. Anyone who has seen the benefit to which institutions like NASA had been put to beyond military utilisation will understand the reason why the State must embrace the initiative.
“The military had always been a pioneer in scientific development. The internet came from the military and other big time initiatives have always come from the military.
” So if we have an institution that is dedicated to utilising information from space in order to aid our security and also research and development, there is no better place to have it than Ekiti.
“At the moment, we are almost finalizing, even for our own security here in Ekiti,” he said.
Fayemi added:” We’ve recognised the use of technology and one of the things that we’ve been doing lately with the office of the National Security Adviser and the Office of the Chief of Air Staff is to get their support for end-users certificate for Orbital Drones
” The Orbit Drones had just been procured and fits into your initiative and hopefully, our vision is that these drones would be produced locally on the basis of the work that you have already embarked on.”
Earlier, Kayoda said his command was mandated to drive the military aspect of the state requirements to provide space products in support of operations of the armed forces along with other security agencies to protect the Nigeria cyber space through the Cyber security Centre.
He also commended Fayemi for his various efforts aimed at tackling security challenges facing the nation saying the peculiarity of Ekiti topography helped in the choice of the state for the project.
According to the Chief of Defence Space Administration, the benefits accruable to the state from the project would include employment of over 300 civilians from the state as well as opportunity for the state to host the dedicated satellite military base.
He said the satellite military base would control all armed forces satellite or orbital presence, thereby allowing for more military presence in the state.