Nigeria plans to launch a second satellite (Sat 2) into orbit to expand the country’s satellite communications capacity. Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy says that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the purchase of the satellite. Pantami announced during a one-day working visit to the Nigerian Communications Satellite staff in Lugbe, Abuja. He also stated that he had gone further to lobby the Minister of Finance to include this in the 2022 budget. The existing Sat1R, launched in 2011 and has a 15-year life cycle, will be phased out in four years. A few years ago, the Nigerian government had announced plans to raise US$550 million for the construction of two new communications satellites, which the Chinese Export and Import Bank agreed to fund. According to NIGCOMSAT (the government agency in charge of satellite communications services in Nigeria), the loan from the Chinese bank followed representation by Nigeria that it could not afford the 15 ...