Nigeria

UN-SPIDER and its Regional Support Office in Nigeria, the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), conducted an online training on the UN-SPIDER Recommended Practice on Flood Mapping and Damage Assessment Using Sentinel-1 SAR Data in Google Earth Engine. Staff from NASRDA as well as from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) of Nigeria participated in the training, which consisted of three two-hour-long online sessions between 21 and 23 October.

The training aimed overall at highlighting the importance and usefulness of remote sensing and satellite data as a decision-making tool in risk and disaster management. In particular, it intended to strengthen the understanding of the characteristics of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery and its use for flood mapping in order to support emergency response efforts in Nigeria,... read more

Due to heavy seasonal rain falls within the last months, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone have been affected by floods. Overall more than 300,000 people have been impacted and 39 casualties reported. 

Since August 30, approximately 206,000 people in Nigeria have been affected by floods in Adamawa State. The floods were triggered by spillage due to damage at the Dadin Kowa dam in Gombe State, which in turn caused an overflow at Kiri Dam located downstream in Adamawa State. Further heavy rainfall worsened the flooding. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has been responsible for the response, humanitarian partners conducted rapid assessments in five Local Government Areas focusing on shelter, food security, sanitation, health and education. 

Since the beginning of the rainy season in June, floods and strong winds affected eight regions of Burkina Faso. Numbers for September counted eight casualties, 54 people wounded and further 28,781 people... read more

UN-SPIDER's Regional Support Office in Sri Lanka, the International Water Management Institute IWMI, conducted a training on "Earth Observation Technologies for Flood-risk Mapping and Forecast Rating Curve for Flood Recession Agriculture in Nigeria". At the same occasion, the participants were briefed on the findings of a recent research project on "Turning tragedy into an opportunity: water management solutions for flood recession and dry season agriculture in Nigeria” supported by Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD). The workshop and training took place from 5 to 7 May 2015 and were organized jointly by IWMI, FMARD and UN-SPIDER's Regional Support Office in Nigeria, NASRDA.

Approximately 30 experts participated in the event and were trained on the use of space technology for flood risk reduction from FMARD, NiMET, NIHSA, NASRDA and academic institutes.

On 1 December 2014, the Nigerian Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Abdu Bulama, announced the launch of the first indigenous Nigerian satellite by 2018.

The mission is part of the broader national initiative of developing a strong science and technology apparatus to advance the pace of socio-economic development and infrastructure in the country.

Dr Bulama emphasized the need for Nigeria to develop its own "time and technology" as well as to apply science and technology to the country's economy.

He said that the Ministry was devoting significant efforts to guiding Nigeria into the new developmental model by disseminating a culture of science, technology and innovation among the nation.

"By this, Nigeria in the nearest future will be an acknowledged member of the fast developing scientific and technologically progressive nations of the world," he stated.

The National Space Research and Development Agency of Nigeria (NASRDA), host of a UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office, has provided relevant satellite datasets for resource monitoring, socio-economic and intelligent mapping across Nigeria and other parts of the globe, as the website Leadership has reported.

NASRDA Director General, Mr Seidu Mohammed, said that NASRDA satellites imagery were being used by 18 universities, six MDAs and more than 100 academic researchers across Nigeria, Africa, Europe, Asia and other parts of the world.

“We will leverage on the progress made through the development, launch and utilisation of Nigeria Sat-2 and Nigeria Sat-X products to advance space technology in the sustainable development of our beloved country, Nigeria,” he said.

The Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) - one of UN-SPIDER's Regional Support Offices - announced on 28 May 2014 that it will develop and build a “Made in Nigeria” satellite by 2018 and accomplish a launch from a Nigerian launch pad by 2030. The announcement was made by Prof. Seidu Mohammed Director General of NASRDA during an interview in Abuja with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).  

In keeping with Nigeria’s socio-economic development goals, “the mission and vision of NASRDA is to build indigenous competence in the development, design and building of appropriate hard and software in space technology. The spinoff of electronic, software and commercial space industries allied with the program would be for the benefit of the Nigerian people.” said Prof. Seidu Mohammed.   

The agency is currently building the legal framework of the Nigerian Space Programme in order to enhance the countries Space Science and Technology Administration.  

UN-SPIDER's network of Regional Support Offices is currently developing Recommended Practices on the use of space-based information for disaster risk management and emergency response. The practices deal with a variety of topics such as droughts, floods, agricultural monitoring or land degradation and include detailed information on the data and methodologies used as well as step-by-step instructions.

Six practices have already been submitted by Regional Support Office with others to follow. These practices will be discussed at the upcoming 5th UN-SPIDER RSO-Meeting on 13 and 14 February 2014 in Vienna, Austria, and will be disseminated through the UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal once final.

Flood Mapping: This practice is devoted to the use of SAR satellite imagery for flood mapping. The practice shows the use of ESA NEST software for pre-processing and processing of SAR imagery using a threshold method for deriving the flood extent. QuantumGIS is used as... read more

To strengthen the preparedness and response capacities of West African countries to natural disasters, the ECOWAS secretariat in Abuja, the Nigerian capital city, Tuesday began hosting a three-day consultative meeting of the Regional Committee for Disaster Management in West Africa (GECEAO).

Opening the meeting, the Nigerian Minister of Environment, Mrs. Hadiza Mailafia, charged the participants from the ECOWAS sub-region and its multilateral partners “to find ways and means of providing a mechanism for regional risk assessment, mitigation, preparedness and response.”

Also speaking at the meeting, the Director-General of the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Muhammad Sani Sidi, alerted countries in the West African Sub-region of the increasing incidences of disaster across the zone, advising the governments to take disaster management more seriously in order to promote safety and development.

According to Sidi, developing strategic... read more

The UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office (RSO) in Nigeria participated in a Project Managers Training for the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters in Abuja, Nigeria. The project managers’ training was conducted from 8th to 10th April 2013.

The training was facilitated by Miss Adina Gillespie from DMC International Imaging (DMCii) Limited of the UK with support from the National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria (UN-SPIDER National Focal Point in Nigeria). Six officers from the UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office in Nigeria, National Space Research and Development Agency, participated in the intensive training programme. The officers include: Mr. Bayo Omoyajowo, Mr. Laide Aderoju, Mr. Ademuyiwa Oyewumi, Miss. Esther Ibrahim Shupel, Mr. Shomboro K. Dauda, and Mr. Isah Ahmed Abdukareem.

At the end of the training, participants were able to manage mock charter... read more

The International Charter "Space and Major Disaster" was activated twice last week for floods in Africa: Chad and Nigeria.

UNITAR/UNOSAT on behalf of UNICEF activated the mechanism for Chad on 10 October 2012. Heavy rains which started in early August had caused continuing floods in Chad. Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by the floods, with damage to both property and agriculture. In the Rig Rig District of the Kanem Region, 220 houses were destroyed and 3000 people were displaced. In the Sila Region, more than 13,000 houses were affected and the flood waters blocked major humanitarian supplies. In Guera, an estimated 850 people were in need of emergency support. And floods have also been reported in the capital, N'Djamena. In September the flood waters were still present, and had affected an estimated 466,000 people, and killed 34. 96,000 houses were reported destroyed and 255,000 hectares of crops lost.

In Nigeria, the Nigerian National Emergency... read more

At the 47th Annual General Meeting of the Institution of Surveyors in Ilorin, Nigeria, Nigeria's Vice President, Muhammad Namadi Sambo said the Nigerian federal government would do everything possible to map its geographical landscape to address disaster management in the country. For this purpose, the vice president said, the office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation has been positioned for the task. Sambo called on state governments to also take up the challenge. "This essentially is what maps and its attribute products enable us to do. The government of Nigeria will do everything possible to ensure that our geographical space is properly and comprehensively mapped".

On June 24 -- Nigeria has concluded plans to launch into orbit two satellites from Russia on July 7, a top government official with the country's National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) has said.

Director General of the agency Seidu Mohammed told a news conference in Abuja on Thursday that the earth observation satellites, NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X, would be launched at 8 a.m. local time on July 7.

"We are once more on the path to greasing the wheels of our success story, as the stage is now set for the launch of our third and fourth satellites code named NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X," Mohammed told reporters.

The satellites would be launched simultaneously using the Dnepr launch vehicle which has successfully launched more than 55 satellites into the orbit, he said, adding that the exercise would be broadcast live.

The two spacecraft and their launch vehicles have been adequately insured in line with the global practice, and all is... read more