Will they be coming home? – and more, in today’s news round-up with Cheta Nwanze

by Cheta Nwanze

suswam

….people like Gaby feel more at home in Abuja because Abuja has amenities, such as primary schools, that they have pointedly denied their people back in the places where they are ostensibly lord and master. The question Gaby should be asking himself, if he is capable of it, is this: how safe really is Abuja in the long term even for him? 

Yesterday, marked two calendar months since a large number of Nigerian girls were taken away, kicking and screaming, from their beds, in their school, by evil men, and driven away into the night. Yesterday, marked two months of frankly, bumbling incompetence, a lack of concern, and a total disinterest, from various suits that should be in charge of this situation. Their only concern being to protect their reputations. Yesterday, also marked the first time a senior Nigerian figure told the bitter truth, regarding the Chibok Babes. Former Prez, Uncle Sege, said, some of them may never come home. Given the keenness of assorted government suits to move on from this, Uncle Sege may well be right. And his correctness, is tragic.

As tragic as the fortunes of kids in Nigeria’s Food Basket. It behoves me as a duty, to point out that primary schools in Benue state have been closed for nigh on nine months now. The state kaftan has done [snip – Language editor] all about it, and yet, sees no irony in calling on the name of the Lord in vain. “Only God can stop me from going to the Senate in 2015,” chest-thumped Gaby Suswam in the town that he really calls home, Abuja.

But then, people like Gaby feel more at home in Abuja because Abuja has amenities, such as primary schools, that they have pointedly denied their people back in the places where they are ostensibly lord and master. The question Gaby should be asking himself, if he is capable of it, is this: how safe really is Abuja in the long term even for him? Consider this: In 2012, then again in 2013, Abuja awarded a rather hefty N76 billions, for closed circuit cameras to be installed across town. Well, it turns out that that contract award, contravened Section 419 of our Criminal Code.

Speaking of Lords and Masters, and it looks like the Lord of the Land of Promise is already getting his throne, and golden parachute, tarnished even before he has taken flight. The Akwa Ibom House has voted to remove one of the more obnoxious parts of the controversial Pension Act. It is no longer the Will of God apparently…

“My friends at EiE are hosting a charity auction in Lagos on Sat June 14th @ 6pm to raise money for their voter education/awareness campaign: RSVP – Register| Select | Vote | Protect. They have 2 tickets to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a photo shoot by Kelechi Amadi-Obi and 1hr time slots with Wole Soyinka, Fola Adeola, Mo Abudu, Leke Alder & Ibukun Awosika to auction. Tickets are N25k! To support them, send email to [email protected]. Thanks!!”

Bits and Bobs
At 5pm on June 30, Papa Eagles will take to the field in Brasilia against France in the Second Round of the World Cup. My crystal ball has not yet determined the result, but it has told me that many Nigerian men will end up with high blood pressure that day. Sadly, they will be unable to get treatment, as there will be no doctors to treat them.

This sad state of affairs will not affect men in Plateau, Yobe and Adamawa states as they will not even be watching.
That they will not be watching gives them the opportunity to do real exercises, which will be needed to run when evil people are scuttling the 2015 polls.

And of course, evil triumphs when it has a safety net, which is why the removal of the immunity clause, if it happens, will be most welcome.

Right of Reply

Eghosa Imasuen wrote,

What I understand about geostationary orbits is that satellites that are geostationary (a specific form of geosynchronous orbit), relative to the earth, are constantly pointed at a certain place; thus the orbital time will approximate the time of rotation of the earth, ie, one day, or 23 hours 56 minutes, relative to the earth’s axis. So to an observer on the earth, these satellites would seem stationary in the sky. So it is a given that geostationary satellites orbit the earth in one day. They have to. But here is the catch, they are by definition pointed at a specific spot on the earth, and they hover, as it were, over that same spot. Now getting them to manoeuvre to cover (or hover over) another spot is where the catch is. How long does that take? And does the satellite have manoeuvrability. And certain satellites aren’t geostationary, eg, our natural satellite, the moon, orbits the earth in 28 days.

Lasisi Salami wrote,

Dear Olamide Babalola, you are right with your observation but you failed to state clearly type and mission of the said satellite to help Chxta and his numerous readers including myself.

Dear Chxta, Professor Rabiu and Olamide references as regards satellite are observation satellites and in particular, NIGERIASAT Series. These type of satellites with earth observation as mission are usually placed in low earth orbit (LEO).

NIGCOMSAT-1 ( R ) is a communication satellite and thus you will not find that in earth observation portal. Communication Satellites are mostly meant for communications and broadcasting and usually placed at Geostationary orbit (about 36,000Km away from the earth surface) and moves at same speed with rotation of the earth. And thus, reasons why ground antennas (i.e Direct-to-Home [DTH] dishes) are fixed and facing same direction always because despite earth’s rotation and the satellite free fall in orbit, they both appeared stationary to one another.
Egghead issue is a non-technical issue to me.

Chxta responds,

Just a quick point on NigComSat being a communications satellite: why have we then, been having all the hullabaloo about it observing the Sambisa forest? And why did Prof. Rabiu in his statement a few days ago give us the impression that every four days it can cover Sambisa? Something does not add up.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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