By Gift Olivia Samuel, Gabriel Ameh The Sight News
ABUJA: The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has joined the rest of the world to celebrate the 2022 World Meteorological Day, with the theme “Early Warning and Early Action. Hydrometeorological and Climate Information for Disaster Risk Reduction”, to emphasise the critical role of issuing warnings/forecasts early enough for prompt and early action by various stakeholders.
NiMet is the organization saddled with the responsibility of advising the government and people of Nigeria on every aspect of meteorology including the socio-economic impacts of climate and weather.
Speaking at the occasion which held in Abuja on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, the NiMet Director General/Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Mansur Bako Matazu in his keynote address, called for synergy between the National Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) as well as Disaster Managers— NEMA, FEMA & SEMA and others, to reduce risks associated with weather related disasters.
This he said, will assist in better national prevention, preparedness, and response strategies, adding that an example of best practice is the adoption of co-production techniques in the Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) of NiMet, which has over the years served as a multi-stakeholder Early Warning Tool.
He pointed out that, “Aside from the SCP, NiMet has an array of other products and services which are part of our catalogue of Early Warning Tools. However, these are perishable and must be utilised on time. That is why we were encouraged by the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, during the public presentation of the SCP, to rise up, take up NiMet forecasts and respond with appropriate actions for resilience, adaptation, and mitigation.
“In the last one year, which also marked my one year in office as the Director General/CEO of NiMet and Permanent Representative of Nigeria with WMO, we have decided not only to wait for buy-in of stakeholders but also to improve on our infrastructure and creatively disseminate to as many Nigerians as possible. Our products (e.g., High Impact Weather, Heavy Rainfall Forecast etc.), have found their way to the Highest decision-making body of Nigeria, the Federal Executive Council”, he said.
Prof. Matazu further noted that one of the highlights of 2021 was the passage of the Repealed NiMet Bill spearheaded by the Minister of Aviation, adding that this Bill will improve NiMet’s operations and add regulatory framework for the Agency to perform optimally and position the Agency for effective weather and climate services for sustainable social development in the country.
For his part, Dr. Bernard Gomez, who represented the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), stated that weather, climate and water extremes are becoming more frequent and intense in many parts of the world as a result of climate change.
He further noted that most people are exposed now more than ever before to multiple related hazards which are themselves evolving as a result of population growth, urbanization and environmental degradation.
According to him, “Worldwide death tolls have fallen decade by decade- from over 50,000 deaths on the average per year in the 1970s to less than 20,000 in the 2010s. The 1970s and 1980s reported an average of 179 related deaths per day while in the 1990s the average death fell by one third to 90 related deaths per day, then continued to fall in the 2010s to 40 related deaths per day”.
However, he noted that just 40% of WMO members have multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS).
He further stated that there are large gaps in weather observations, especially in Africa and small developing Island states, hence in Africa, in 2019, just 26% of reporting stations met WMO standards, given that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, noting that these gaps pose a risk to the accuracy of early warnings locally and globally.
The 2022 World Meteorological Day with the theme, “Early Warning and Early Action” is being celebrated across the world by more than 190 WMO Member States/Countries.
The World Meteorological Day is also celebrated to highlight the huge contribution that National Meteorological and Hydrological Services like NiMet, FEMA, NEMA make to the Safety and well-being of Society. Nigeria has been a member of WMO since 30th November 1960 and has hosted the WMO Subregional Office for Western Africa since 1996.
