The Federal Government has been advised to establish a National Space Weather Programme with the mission of advancing space weather services that would stem the tide of the threat of Global Warming and Climate Change and associated health challenges.

Professor Lawrence Babatunde Kolawole of the Department of Physical Sciences, Redeemer's University, Ede, Osun state, gave the advice last Thursday (December 3, 2015) while delivering a lecture at the 6th National Conference of the International Union of Radio Science-Nigeria (URSI-NG) held at the University of Ilorin Main Auditorium.

In his lecture, entitled "Space Weather, Communication Systems and National Security", Prof. Kolawole expressed hope that the agency, when established, would assist and support the country to prepare for the technological, economic, security, and health impacts that may arise from extreme space weather events.

The don, who was represented on the occasion by Prof. Dare Ajewole, also encouraged Nigerian universities and research institutes to focus their researches on aspects of Space Weather with a view to providing important and timely data to advance and support operational space weather services.

He called on URSI-NG to perform an assessment of current space weather observing systems in Nigeria with a view to evaluating their ability to meet the national demands for Space Weather studies. In the second lecture, Prof. I. O. Owolabi of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, who spoke on the topic "Radiofrequency Spectrum Management and Applications: The Nigerian Perspective", underscored the importance of the radiofrequency spectrum and its properties in diverse applications.

For better service delivery in the Nigerian environment, Prof. Owolabi stressed the need to explore some areas like spectrum management; radio refractivity, ducting and transhorizon propagation; rainfall attenuation; digital mapping; cellular mobile radio propagation; and digital electronics and signal processing. Earlier, in his key note address, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umaru Danbatta, who was represented on the occasion by Engr. Yusuf Asaju, acknowledged that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a major role in national security, especially in the area of surveillance against physical assault to national sovereignty and information security to prevent hacking into vital government data.

According to him, communication and information has impacted on other sectors like education (e-learning), commerce (e-banking, online shopping), inventory management, health care (virtual 3D), as well as governance (electronic card reader as used in the 2015 general elections). Prof. Danbatta commended the management of the University of Ilorin for ensuring optimal use of the ICT equipment provided for it by the NCC over the years.

In his address, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali (OON), who spoke through the former Dean, Faculty of Sciences, University of Ilorin, Prof. B. L. Adeleke, said that the University of Ilorin is the foremost among Nigerian universities in the appreciation, acquisition, and utilisation of ICT.

The Vice Chancellor said that the theme of the conference, "Space Weather, Communication Systems and National Security" was apt and timely at this time when the nation is faced with challenges bordering on national security.

Earlier in his welcome address, the President of URSI-NG, Prof. Isaac Adimula, said that the conference was poised to provide answers to various challenges from space weather, over congestion of the available spectrum, jamming of radio signals and security of information transmitted on radio and therefore suggest novel ways of advancing the cause of Radio Science. Shortly before the commencement of the Conference, the representatives of the NCC Vice-Chairman, in company of the leadership of URSI-NG visited the Vice-Chancellor in his office.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Technology and Innovation), Prof. Gabriel Olatunji, who received the visitors on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, commended the leadership of NCC for considering the University of Ilorin in its ICT intervention.

He pledged that the institution would make judicious use of the ICT items provided so as justify the purpose for which they were given.