Dr Anthony Anuforom, the Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), on Monday called on atmospheric scientists to apply their knowledge to minimise the impact of natural disasters on people.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Anuforom gave the advice in his keynote address titled “The Role of NIMET in Mitigating Impacts of Climate Change Hazards in Nigeria’’ at the Annual Conference of the Nigerian Meteorological Society in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the conference is “Global Climate Change: Lamentations and Leverages’’.
Anuforom stressed that the stage was set for concerted efforts and close collaboration among individuals, institutions and organisations in tackling all climatic issues.
“There is need for greater coordination among researchers and those involved in operational activities. The NIMET should develop activities and programmes that will engender this,’’ he said.
He said that in the past few years, the Federal Government had through the agency made a tremendous improvement in the provision of meteorological infrastructure across the country.
“This is part of the dividends of the Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government,’’ he said.
Anuforom listed some of the climate monitoring equipment of NIMET as “Doppler’’ weather radars, low-level wind shear alert systems at nine airports and upper air sounding equipment.
Others are meteorological satellite image receivers at four international airports; lightning and thunderstorm detectors at 20 locations, as well as integrated aviation weather observation and display systems at 14 airports.
Anuforom said that the equipment also included air quality and ozone monitoring apparatus at five locations, as well as numeric weather prediction facilities.
Besides, the director-general said that the agency had constructed and equipped an instrument calibration laboratory at the National Weather Forecasting and Climate Research Centre for the use of the country’s scientists.
Anuforom said that NIMET also had over 50 conventional weather observatories or synoptic stations spread all over the country.
“It may interest you to know that we have also procured a buoy for marine weather data collection.
“The installation is ongoing at the Apapa Port. In addition to these, NIMET recently underwent a rigorous quality management audit and achieved ISO-9001:2008 certification for our aeronautical services,’’ he said.
Anuforom said that the agency’s mandate also included the provision of scientific materials on data collection for non-aeronautical products and services.
He said that NIMET was providing these services via Seasonal Rainfall Predictions (SRP), Monthly/Quarterly
Bulletins and Warnings for the socio-economic sectors, as well as Drought and Flood Monitoring Bulletin (DFMB).
He added that the services were also rendered through Agro-meteorological Bulletin (AMB), Annual Climate Review Bulletin (AWRB), Quarterly Weather Review
Bulletin (QWRB) and Marine Met Quarterly Bulletin (MQB).
“It is pertinent to mention that in addition to the huge investment in weather monitoring and forecasting infrastructure, the Federal Government has taken other steps towards reducing impact of weather-related disasters.
“The National Framework for Application of Climate Services (NFACS), which will become operational soon, is designed to enable Nigeria to manage climate-related risks in a pragmatic way.
“It is also meant to harness the associated opportunities in the context of achieving sustainable development.
“One of the objectives of the framework is to create partnership amongst climate services’ producers, policy makers and planners as well as users to provide climate information and services,” Anuforom said. (NAN)
