Due to the devastating impact of climate change, which has led to destruction of properties and loss of lives, the United Nations has deemed it fit to come up with an Early Warning for All, EW4ALL, Initiative.
The intiative is to ensure that everyone on earth is protected by early warning Systems by the year 2027.
To achieve the goal of reducing to the barest the effects of these adverse weather events due to climate change, the Nigeria Meteorological Agency NiMet and the World Meteorological Organization, WMO, have joined hands to strengthen human and infrastructure capacity especially in the West African Sub-Region.
It is against this backdrop that, NiMet and WMO brought together Meteorologists from 16 countries in the sub-region with focus on capacity building, knowledge exchange, collaboration and skills acquisition to develop competencies for realizing the goal of Early Warning for All, EW4ALL.
Declaring open the training program, with the theme: ‘Early Warnings for All’, the Director General NiMet Prof. Mansur Matazu emphasized that, all nation’s on earth must synergie to proactively combat the negative impacts of climate change by providing actionable imact-based products and services to mitigate these weather and climate extremes.
“Weather has no boundary and it is no respecter of political or geographical affiliations”.
Represented by the Director, Research and Weather Forecasting, Mr. Daniel Okafor, the NiMet boss noted that, in the next two weeks the training would last, participants would understand the complexities of weather prediction and develop systems that are accessible, adaptable and responsive to the diverse needs of the communities.
“This workshop signifies a significant milestone in our collective efforts to enhance and strengthen Early Warning systems in the region, a vital component of our commitment to building resilient communities in the face of increasing climate variability and extreme weather events”.
Prof. Matazu who is also a permanent Representative of Nigeria with the WMO stressed that, NiMet and the entire Regional Association Members are appreciative of the continued support of WMO and together are fostering a culture of preparedness and resilience that transcends borders and strengthen the global community.
Participating countries in the training tagged ‘WMO Development of Competency in Weather Forecasting Course’ taking place at the WMO Regional Training Centre, Lagos are, Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire, Central Africa Republic, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Niger and Gabon.
In an interview, two of the participants, who described the training as prayer answered said, it would help to sharpen their skills to better communication effectively with the communities and understand what they publish.
The Director, Research and Training NiMet, Prof. Effiong Uko listed the benefits of the training to include, helping the participants to develop accurate and timely technics in weather forecasting, innovative technology for early warnings and risk assessment.
