The Nigerian government has commissioned a Chinese company to build a communication satellite for Nigeria, an official said on Thursday.

Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Ernest Ndukwe said that "a Chinese consortium has already been awarded the contract to design, build and launch the satellite," but did not mention the cost of the project.

Ndukwe said the satellite, having C, Ku, Ka and L band transponders would have excess capacity that could be leased to neighboring countries in the west African sub-region.

He said the facility, the gateway of which would be located in the Lugbe area of Abuja, had the potential of making Nigeria a major traffic hub in the west and central African region.

He said that Nigeria had made huge investments in the Regional African Satellite Communication System (RASCOM), a project he described as reaching advanced stage of execution.

"This satellite will add more to the international bandwidth accessible to Nigeria, which can be harnessed to provide connectivity between Nigeria, west Africa and other parts of the continent," he said.

Ndukwe said that the NCC was favorably disposed to issue direct liberalizing international access to telecommunications operators in the country. 

 "They will be given the necessary incentives to expand their switching facilities to be able to handle international traffic for both Nigeria and neighboring countries," the NCC vice-chairman said.