The Federal Government has called on the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) to intensify efforts to encourage cooperation among member states and bridge the existing gap between the political class and experts in the field.
During a meeting with the WMO secretary-general, Prof. Petteri Taalas at the 76th session of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Executive Council meeting at the organisation’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, made this known in an address.
Sirika thanked Taalas for his tremendous support for the development of meteorology globally, in Africa and specifically in Nigeria. Also, he expressed gratitude for the secretary-general’s physical presence in Nigeria to sign the Host Country Agreement for the WMO Office in the region for North, Central and West Africa, as well as his support for the seasonal climate prediction.
“One practice that has enabled meteorological development in Nigeria is the strong synergy and support between the political class (which I represent) and the experts (represented by Prof. Matazu),” said Sirika. “We strive to ensure we have the right leadership at the helm of affairs at the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and the agency, under the leadership of Prof. Mansur Matazu, has also demonstrated commitment to excellence by judicious utilisation of resources, broad stakeholders’ engagements and result-oriented goals with clearly detailed regular reporting.”
Sirika further explained that NiMet has developed various products and services that have generated a lot of interest within the nation, up to the Presidency, culminating in getting the president to personally commission a national Meteorological Institute of Science and Technology in his home state and his honour.
He added that this effort has led to increased inter-agency synergy along the climate services value chain, bringing together the meteorological, hydrological, disaster management and all responders to develop and practice a multi-hazard early warning system for all Nigerians.
Sirika revealed that NiMet has provided intervened in Liberia, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Malawi by providing capacity building, technical assistance, quality management systems and competency framework and has successfully hosted, provided leadership and participated in regional climate outlook fora.
“All these are signs that we can get it right with strong commitment and political support in our National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs),” he said.
