Nigeria is serious about her space programme and is determined to put a man into space as early as 2015.

Reporting on this yesterday, Britain’s Daily Mail said that Africa’s second leading economy “has set in train ambitious plans to launch its own rockets,” adding that “the first Nigerian astronauts are being trained to join Russian, Chinese or American missions within the next two years.”

Parts of the report said: “Nigeria’s space programme started in 2003 but its first satellite lost power and disappeared from orbit.

“It now has three in space, NigComSat-1R, NigeriaSat-2 and Nigeria-Sat X, the first to be constructed by Nigerian engineers.

“Although it has bought its own satellites and launched on Russian rockets, Nigeria has built laboratories which it hopes will produce its own space craft by 2028.

“The National Space Research and Development Agency confirmed Nigerian astronauts should be trained and ready for space travel within two years.

“In July this year, NASRDA’s director general, Professor Seidu Onailo Mohammed, declared: ‘By our road map we are supposed to have astronauts prepared by 2015. Before the end of the year, the recruitment of astronauts will begin so that we have them handy and as soon as we get the nod we can pick from that number.’

“The Nigerian government has not released detailed figures on how much it is spending on its space programme, but it is thought to be hundreds of millions of pounds a year.”

•PROUDLY NAIJA: Photo, courtesy Daily Mail, shows a space-bound Nigerian surveillance rocket launched from Russia.