In Nigeria, there is dearth of studies on recent changes on accelerated marine processes along the national coastlines despite their importance as ports for navigation and marine commerce as well as a bridge for aquatic and terrestrial life.This study, which deals with a time series analysis of recent changes in the Niger Delta Coastline using Satellite Imagery is an attempt at filling this gap. Landsat TM images of 1986 and Landsat ETM+ of 2003 both covering the Niger Delta area of Nigeria were used for this study and the images were processed using Erdas Imagine Version 8.7 and Arc Info 9.1 for the GIS operations. The results of the analyses show among other things that coastline erosion was dominant over accretion of sediment deposition. Also that the total area of observed changes along the coastlines was 46.535sq.km. Of this, 27.65sq.km (59.43%) constitutes eroded area, and 40.57% representing 18.88sq.km of the area showed coastal sediment accretion.

In Africa, there is growing knowledge regarding the use of data obtained by remote sensing and analysed while using Geographic Information Systems for solving myriad problems. The awareness has largely arisen through the efforts of the Programme on Space Applications (PSA) of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), and the subsequent UN resolutions for the establishment of Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education, to train scientists and researchers in different thematic areas of space, including Remote Sensing/Geographic Information Systems (RS/GIS). The African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in English (ARCSSTE-E) is one of these regional centres. The Centre has successfully trained 474 professionals from 18 countries since its inception in 1998; about 14% of these trainees have been female. This paper highlights the training programmes of ARCSSTE-E from its inception, and discusses the potential areas of improvement with a focus on the RS/GIS area. In 2019, a survey was conducted on alumni of the Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) programme of ARCSSTE-E. Based on the analysis of their responses and the progression of the PGD programme to a new Masters programme in RS/GIS at the university, there is clear evidence regarding the impact of the UNOOSA-assisted capacity building programme on the work and career of alumni, which has already produced an appreciable number of trained personnel in developing countries in Africa.

Capacity building in Space Science and