The
Federal Government will on Monday show satellite images of Baga
captured by the nation’s earth observation satellite, otherwise known as
NigeriaSat-2.
Our
correspondent learnt that the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof.
Ita Ewa, would show the images in a public ceremony in an attempt to
counter the claim of a human right organisation.
The
Human Rights Watch had on Wednesday denounced military’s claim that the
fires that razed thousands of buildings in Baga, Borno State, were
caused by rocket-propelled grenades fired by members of the violent
Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
It was learnt that the planned public presentation of satellite images by Ewa is to counter the claim of the human right group.
HRW,
in a statement on its website, had said that satellite images showed
that soldiers might have set the fires, claiming that a total of 2,275
buildings were razed while 125 others were severely damaged.
President
Goodluck Jonathan had recently directed the Defence Headquarters and
the National Emergency Management Agency to investigate the incident.
Both organisations submitted their preliminary reports to the President
last week.
According
to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President (Media and
Publicity), Dr. Reuben Abati, DHQ’s findings showed that 30 terrorists
were killed during the crisis. It also said that six bodies were
recovered in Lake Chad about three kilometres away from the action spot.
In
its report, NEMA stated that a number of buildings and business
premises were destroyed in Baga. It claimed that the total number of
houses in the community was far less than 1,000.
But
the HRW, in the statement by its Africa Director, Daniel Bekele, said
that the area damaged by fires measured about 80,000 sq2.
Stating
that the fires were detected by the MODIS sensor aboard NASA
satellites, Aqua and Terra, the rights organisation said its findings
corroborated claims by the residents that 2,000 houses and 183 bodies
were burnt during the mayhem.
In
a telephone interview with our correspondent, spokesman for the
National Space Research Development Agency, Mr. Felix Ale, confirmed
that the agency was in possession of satellite images of the incident
and would soon make them public.
Many commentators had descended on HRW since it made the claim that 2,275 houses were burnt in Baga.
While some accused the organisation of bias, others said its figures had been exaggerated.
The
HRW had said, “Because of the number of buildings destroyed as well as
their distribution across large sections of the town, we believe that
such fires were intentionally set and not inadvertently sparked by the
detonation of rocket-propelled grenades or improvised explosive devices.
“Such
weapons could not ignite fires on such a wide scale, nor could they set
fires to non-attached structures. Small arms and light weapons do not
contain the amount of explosive or incendiary material to produce such a
scale of damage.
“Baga
residents told HRW that soldiers ransacked their town after the Boko
Haram militant Islamist group attacked a military patrol, killing a
soldier. Community leaders said that immediately after the attack they
counted 2,000 burned homes and 183 bodies. Satellite images of the town
analysed by HRW corroborate these accounts and identify 2,275 destroyed
buildings, the vast majority likely residences, with another 125
severely damaged.”
Nigeria has been able to put three earth observation satellites and two communication satellites in space since 2003.
The
first satellite, known as Nigeria Sat-1, was constructed in 2003.
Having reached the end of its lifespan, it was recently deorbited.
While
the first satellite has a resolution of 32 metres, Nigeria Sat-2
satellite which was launched in 2010 is equipped with three payloads to
get three different resolutions – 2.5Metres, five metres and 32Metres.
NigeriaSat-X
was constructed by Nigerian engineers with the assistance of engineers
from the contractors of the two other earth observation satellites,
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has insisted that contrary to media reports, the recent incident in Baga, was not a case of massacre.
Abati, in an interview with SaharaTV on Saturday, said this.
“The
position of the government is that there was no massacre in Baga. Two,
the reports by investigators also made it clear that the Boko Haram
terrorists were the ones who set houses on fire, and the ones who have
turned Baga into an enclave within the Nigerian State. And to the extent
that that is true means that the terrorists are determined to violate
the sovereignty of Nigeria,” Abati said.
He insisted that the figures being bandied around by the media and rights activists could not be substantiated.
The
president’s spokesman, who confirmed that he had seen the satellite
images of the incident being circulated by HRW, described them as
questionable.
He
said, “I have seen the satellite images that are being circulated. But
you know those satellite images are questionable. You know that
satellite imagery is determined by a lot of variables: weather
condition, the quality of equipment, the resolution, the distance, the
all of that.
“And
the military authorities have made it very clear that the Nigerian
authorities have also carried out their own satellite imagery using
Nigeria’s tools. And the evidence that they have is clearly different
from the evidence that the Human Rights Watch is talking about.”
Punch
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