Ifeanyi Ugwuadu
20 November 2008
Despite official admission that the country has actually lost its multi-million dollar satellite, the Federal Government is yet to file insurance claims to underwriters of the in-orbit risks. Nigcomsat was insured for its full value of $256m or N40billion.
Vanguard gathered that lead insurers to the satellite, Zenith is yet to get claim notification from the operators, Nigerian Communication Satellite (Nigcomsat) Ltd. Instead the authorities are said to have forwarded another proposal for a US$500million to build yet another one.
Sources at both the lead insurer and broker say government is yet to notify them of any loss of the satellite except what they read in news media.
The insurance is split into two: launch insurance aspect and in-orbit insurance. The successful launch of the satellite means insurers will only be liable to the in-orbit cover.
With a larger proportion of the cover done outside Nigeria and China, the exposure of local underwriters may be less than 20% of the insured value.
Mr Ahmed Rufai, the chief executive officer of Nigcomsat-1 said last year that the insurance package totalled $300 million explaining that about 60 percent of the coverage will be placed among insurance underwriters in Europe and elsewhere outside China and Nigeria, with the rest handled by insurers in those two nations.
Apart from 16 other local underwriters on the insurance schedule, Abuja-based insurance broker, Quality Insurance Brokers is the lead local broker. There are still other brokers who will ensure that claims are paid by local participating insurers.
Zenith has Munich Mauritius Reinsurance Company Limited, and African Reinsurance Corporation as its lead reinsurers. Other reinsurers who may have participated in the coverage include Continental Reinsurance Plc, Ghana Reinsurance Company Limited, CICA Reinsurance Company Limited, Cameroon and WAICA Reinsurance Pool.
Depending on the local proportion of the entire cover, insurance firms may only be saddled with the responsibility of bearing the cost of replacing the satellite alone, while the government or the manufacturer will bear the cost of launching a new satellite in the orbit.
Nigeria signed the contract with China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) in December 2004 for the design, manufacture and launch of the NIGCOMSAT 1 (Nigerian Communication Satellite). It is based on the Chinese DFH-4 Bus and will feature 4 C-band, 14 Ku-band, 8 Ka-band, 2 L-band transponders.
The satellite was successfully launched on 13.05.2007 on a CZ-3B booster. It has 15 years life span.
In April 2008, NIGCOMSAT 1 lost power from the southern solar array. The satellite failed in November 2008 due to a technical error of the satellite's northern solar array and was sent to a graveyard orbit as it became apparent, that the satellite could not be recovered.
It became the first African geosynchronous communication satellite, when it was launched at 16:01 GMT on 13 May 2007, aboard a Chinese Long March 3B carrier rocket, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China.
The spacecraft was operated by NigComSat and the Nigerian Space Agency, NASRDA. On 10 November 2008 (0900 GMT), the satellite was reportedly switched off for analysis and to avoid a possible collision with other satellites.
According to Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, it was put into "emergency mode operation in order to effect mitigation and repairs".[2]
The satellite, which is the third Nigerian satellite to be placed into orbit, was launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.
It was designed to provide coverage to many parts of Africa, and the Ka-band transponders would also cover Italy.
NigcomSat-1 represented a milestone for China's satellite export business. For the first time the provided all aspects of in-orbit delivery of a satellite to an international customer. This included satellite manufacture, launch services, ground station construction, project financing, insurance and training.
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