The communications satellite industry as an element in Nigeria’s attempt to modernise its economy and society

There is general consensus that Nigeria’s inordinate reliance on oil has not had a positive impact on its social and economic development – indeed, that Nigeria has suffered from the ‘resource curse’. In 2009, the National Planning Commission of Nigeria, the custodian of the Vision 20:2020 document as well as the 30-year National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), which stressed the need for Nigeria to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons, a crucial element in this goal is Information and Communications Technology. This paper examines the establishment of the communications satellite industry and its strategic role as critical ICT backbone infrastructure in driving Nigeria’s national ICT revolution beyond cities and urban areas to unserved and underserved areas and its growing value chain in key economic sectors of the Nigerian economy and society.