Abuja — Problem of food security, aviation safety, border security, emergency intervention among others will soon be a thing of the past as Nigeria plans for more efficient Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) through training of expertise for the Universities.

Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie who spoke at the meeting held in collaboration with the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Trieste, Italy, said the country will soon start reaping the benefit of a comprehensive technological compass that will monitor almost everything in and around the country.

Speaking at the workshop on capacity building on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for 25 Nigerian experts declared open by the Minister of State for Education, Hajia Aishatu Dukku, the NUC boss who was represented by Prof. Chiedu Mafiana said the meeting will create "appropriate platform for Nigerian experts their foreign counterparts to interact productively towards the development of a National Augmentation System for GPS in Nigeria."

Noting the importance of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to the country, Okojie said it is coming at a most desirable time with a rapidly expanding national need for the utilization of satellite navigation system. He also appreciated the donation of GPS receivers to some Nigerian universities via the Aeronomy and Radio-propagation Laboratory of the ICTP.

Speaking at the roundtable meeting which has as its theme 'National Augmentation System for (Global Positioning System) GPS- Application for Geodesy, ground and water navigation system', Sandro Radicella of Abdus Salam ICTP, Italy disclosed that the meeting is necessitated by the ICTP's mission of fostering studies and research in developing countries.

He stated that the collaboration with NUC, the university regulatory body is important so as to initiate programmes in GNSS science and technology at the university level.

On the benefits of GNSS to Nigeria and Africa at large, Radicella disclosed that "GNSS applications can be used to increase food security, manage natural resources, provide efficient emergency location services, improve surveying and mapping, and provide greater precision and safety in land, water and air navigation systems.

"This potential for scientific collaborations will generate an opportunity to increase observational infrastructure over the African sector, where little is known of ionospheric and space weather phenomenon", the visiting expert disclosed.

Radicella stated that the meeting demonstrates Nigeria's interest and commitment to using satellite navigation as an enabling technology for applications with socio-economic benefit and scientific exploration.

Also speaking, the Director, Research and Innovations of NUC, Prof Val Ekechukwu while fielding questions from newsmen at the event disclosed that the meeting is for capacity building of Nigerians in the management of GNSS.

He said that already, the technology is available in Lagos but needed to be extended to other parts of the country and when such is done, there would still be need to have adequate man-power to handle the technology.

The Research and Innovations Director intimated that the deployment of the technology would enable Nigeria locate things using satellite, benefit the nation in geometric processes, climate change as well as gather information on space weather. The Global Navigation Satellite Systems meeting which is being held in Africa for the first time will have twenty-five Nigerians trained by a team of experts from Boston College, USA and International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.