by Rachel Ogbu

The Federal Government is to release its own satellite footage of Baga captured by the earth observation satellite, NigeriaSat-2 to show the images in a public ceremony in an attempt to counter the claim of a human right organisation.

[READ: Total devastation: NGO reveals massive level of destruction in Baga (SATELLITE PHOTOS)]

According to reports, the Presidency has insisted that contrary to media reports, the recent incident in Baga, was not a case of massacre.

In an interview with SaharaTV on Saturday, the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Reuben Abati said:

“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.

“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.”

The Punch reports:

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

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.