Advocate tasks lawyers on space law practice

Uruegi, Co-founder of the Learn Space Initiative, made the call while speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday.

According to her, space law had become too important with advancement in science and technology.

NAN reports that International Human Space Flight Day is celebrated annually on April 12 while International Space Day is celebrated annually on the first Friday of May.

Space Day aims to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields among young people.

According to Uruegi, many Nigerian lawyers shy away from issues relating to the outer space with a mentality of “who lives there”.

She said that human existence had been helped much by benefits derived from the outer space.

Uruegi called on lawyers to take up trainings on space law, which she described as a grey area with much prospects.

“The benefits of space vis-a-vis satellite technologies and remote sensing technologies have emerged to help us better understand our environment as humans.

“It is easy to ask why we should celebrate outer space since we do not live there, but there is need to mark and even speak about it because of its benefits,” she said.

She told NAN that mobile communication, facilitated by satellites launched into outer space, was part of outer space-based resources being used by man.

“We are also able to understand how gravity works because of outer space, and there are minerals such as asteroids in space which are being mined for utility,” she said.

According to the advocate, there have also been some medical researches carried out on the moon to understand bone density.

“If there was no space exploration, we would not know about some of these technologies today. Nigerian lawyers should undertake studies in space law.

“The Outer Space Treaty, for instance, provides that outer space can be used for the benefits of the common man, as no one owns space.

“Apart from the Outer Space Treaty, Nigeria is a signatory to other treaties which means it understands the benefits of space exploration,” she said.

She also noted that a treaty known as the Liability Convention  provided that space activities would be regulated by countries from where a space object was launched.

“All these movements to space entitles a whole lot of legal work, and this is where the job of a space lawyer surfaces.

“At present, there is the concept of space tourism which allows movement to outer space like mars colonies.

“If, for instance, as a Nigerian, I am to go to Mars for a vacation, who drafts the agreement between me and the space company if not lawyers?” she asked.

According to Uruegi, space lawyers are needed first to teach people what space and space law are about.

“Having lawyers as lecturers is not out of place for this new frontier.

“Recently, there was a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), such that if you have to come into Nigeria to launch a satellite technology, you must be licensed.

“I, therefore, urge lawyers to learn more and become knowledgeable in this field so that our voices are not drowned or lost when the field of space law becomes saturated,” she said.