Nigeria is planning to spend N9 billion ($US25.4 million) over the next three years implementing the nation’s National Space Policy and Programme. The initative reported by This Day was announced July 27 by the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun. Isoun said the Nigerian government had to embark on the programme in realisation of the fact that space technology reflected the power of a nation, and that Nigeria as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space [COPUOS] was committed to the ideal that the exploration and use of outer space should be carried out for peaceful purposes.