The Director General of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof Charles Anosike has urged stakeholders io collaborate with the Agency to make its early warnings on weather related disasters actionable.
He made the call on Wednesday during the maiden edition of the NiMet stakeholders engagement forum held at the Admiralty Conference and Event Centre, Naval Dockyard Limited Victoria Island Lagos.
In his keynote address at the event themed “Early Warnings: Raising Awareness on Climate Risks and Promoting Early Action,” Anosike noted that timely observation, gathering of weather data, and its dissemination would make no meaningful impact without stakeholders’ collaborations at putting disseminated information into action.
“This Forum is aimed at creating a platform for us to share our progress, collaborate, raise awareness, listen to your feedback, co-create solutions and act towards building a climate-resilient Nigeria.
“Early warnings must not end with the forecast alone, they must inspire understanding and drive decisive action. This is why your presence, active participation and engagement in this forum are very critical,” Anozike said.
The Nigeria permanent representative at World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) who said the agency needs continued investment to sustain its mandate on the dissemination of accurate and timely weather information, also urged stakeholders to cooperate with the Nimet on its cost recovery exercise, affirming that even with limited resources at its disposal, has never compromised on the quality of service delivery despite expanded scope of service.
“Sustaining these services requires continuous investments. In addition to the Federal Government support through budget allocations, the Agency has relied primarily on cost recovery for sustainability and despite the limited resources available to the Agency, service quality has never been compromised, and we are constantly expanding the scope of our services in line with NiMet’s establishment mandate. Hence, a clarion call for support across various sectors to recover more costs and improve on our overall service delivery ” he urged.
Anozike affirmed that NiMet has consistently remained committed to advancing the government’s efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change as well as improve food security, climate-smart sustainable development, and disaster risk reduction, through it’s various products and services, targeted at different sectors.
“These efforts are often capital-intensive, and traditional government subvention alone can no longer sustain the growing demands of weather and climate services. As such, we are aiming to continue the transformation of the Agency’s scientific outputs into impactful services and sustainable revenue streams. We are working with our existing partners, but we also hope to bring in more active partners by the end of this forum,”he added.
Highlighting NiMet’s pivotal roles, Anosike explained the Agency has its footprints in every socioeconomic sector through observation, collation processing, and dissemination of quality and timely weather and climate information for the safety of lives and property as well as sustainable development.
In Aviation sector, he noted with the essential weather data supporting flight safety and operational efficiency, NiMet has gone digital with tools like the Electronic Flight Folder, offering virtual flight briefings.
He also said that the agency has achieved ISO certification for five airports, including Lagos and Abuja, aiming to expand the list.
He added that NiMet has collaborated with national agencies like National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Nigerian Maritime Administration Safety Agency (NIMASA) to mitigate weather-related disasters and support sustainable growth in the marine and blue economy sectors..
