Here we go again: Nigerian satellite fails in space

A multi-million dollar Nigerian satellite launched in May 2007 has been shut down to prevent it spinning out of control and damaging others in orbit.

Chinese-built NigComSat-1 cost the African oil producer $340m (£228m).

The Nigerian government said insurance would pay for a replacement and Nigerians should still be proud of the country's satellite programme.

NigComSat-1 was launched 18 months ago to much fanfare from the government, but it has been mired in controversy ever since.

On Tuesday, controllers shut the satellite down because it was having problems with its power supply, the government announced.

The satellite was meant to provide communications for government agencies and broadband internet.

The satellite was limited because the type of frequency it used was disturbed by clouds in the atmosphere, and did not work properly in Nigeria's rainy season or during the Harmattan, when clouds of dust blow down from the Sahara.

The satellite also operated on frequencies already allocated to other companies and interfered with other providers' equipment.

But Information Minister John Odey denied the satellite was not worth investing in.

"No technology can be a waste of money," he said.

"It is a worthy investment, and Nigerians should see it as desirable. It has served a purpose and will continue to do so." he said.

Local media initially reported that the satellite had "gone missing".

But on Wednesday Minister of State for Science and Technology Alhassan Zaku told journalists it had lost power and had to be "parked, like you would park a car".

"If it wasn't parked and it lost all its power there would be no energy to even move it and it would be like a loose cannon and would keep rolling about and hit other satellites in the orbit," he told reporters.

According to analysts, Nigeria has made nearly $2 trillion in oil revenues over the last 30 years, but its population are mostly poor.

Africa's most populous nation lacks basic infrastructure like power and water, and many Nigerians thought the satellite showed the government did not have its priorities right.

The news that the satellite could not get enough power to run has led to jokes that, as one e-mail doing the rounds put it: Nigeria has "exported its electricity generation problems to space".

U.S. Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a continent .....

Fox News reports that U.S. Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a continent and did not know the member nations of the North American Free Trade Agreement -- the United States, Mexico and Canada -- when she was picked for vice president.

Unbelievable, Palin didn't know Africa was a continent and did not know the member nations of the North American Free Trade Agreement. She's disgrace to the America Politics. I think she would have been more incompetent as a vice president than Dan Quayle, seriously even my 4 year old knows that Africa is a continent. She must be banned from entering any country in Africa. She's sore loser for real.

I was outraged by her apparent ignorance on questions given on the Department of Homeland Security naturalization test (which is given to High School Student in US social studies classes), but the bottom line is McCain picked her and showed both leaders overwhelming ignorance and as such incompetence to run a country. So McCain, not Palin should be held responsible.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe has called for an emergency meeting of the African Union to discuss the violence in eastern Congo

Nigerian Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe has called for an emergency meeting of the African Union to discuss the violence in eastern Congo, a Nigerian newspaper reported on Monday.

Maduekwe said the fighting had become a threat to African peace and security which threatened to further impoverish the continent by diverting attention away from development needs

n offensive by Tutsi rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, and killings and looting by Congolese army troops, have created what foreign relief workers call a "catastrophic" situation in eastern Congo's North Kivu province.

A ceasefire declared by Nkunda seems to be holding but tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced. U.N. officials fear they have left unprotected camps and are roaming the bush, seeking safe shelter, food, water and care.

Maduekwe made the call for a meeting of the AU's Peace and Security Council during a visit to Indonesia to discuss the possibility of commuting a death sentence passed against 18 Nigerians convicted of drug trafficking, This Day said.