With $1billion spent on ground infrastructure in Nigeria and China, 144 billion naira spent on Satellite, and 22 billion naira spent on recurring expenditure such as hotel, accommodation, salaries, training amongst others, the Nigeria Satellite Company (NIGCOMSAT), has gulped over half a trillion between 2011 and 2016 alone without making any revenue.
In the 2020 budget, the Agency has been earmarked to spend 3.4 billion naira, a bit short of the 3.9 billion it spent in 2019.
Stakeholders in the industry believe that the underutilization of NigCOmSat 1-R for commercial purposes is one of the reasons why the Agency has continued to remain a milking platform.
According to the breakdown of the approved Budget for 2020, the Agency is billed to spend 76 per cent of its allocated fund on recurrent expenditure while the 835 million will go into capital expenditure.
In 2012, the agency spent 6.8 billion naira while making just 38 million naira income for the year. In 2013, the agency generated 262 million naira having spent 7.2 billion naira while in 2014, the Agency spent 3.6 billion naira while making only 248 million naira as income.