The Nigeria Meteorological Agency, NiMet today joined the rest of the World in celebrating the 2023 World Meteorology Day with the theme for 2023 is “The future of weather, climate and water across generations”.
In his keynote address, the Director General, NiMet, Prof. Mansur Matazu called on institutions and individuals to invest in the future generations, creating awareness on the dangers of climate change such as extreme weather and loss of livelihoods; and providing opportunities for them to proffer solutions thereby making the World a safer place for All.
He emphasized, “We must catch them young, therefore, while we work tirelessly to improve on our activities, we must not forget to prepare the future generation for the task ahead”.
According to him, in NiMet, they have placed special importance in the future generations by working with the young minds in the country, adding that, their weather observers are largely youths who begin their careers in the field of meteorology at a very young age.
“Similarly, we have designed, developed and implemented a programme called Young Meteorological Ambassadors whose members are here today. Can we please recognise the Members of the Young Met. Ambassadors While with the Young Met. Ambassadors, the Agency does not neglect the University community”.
He said to this end, NiMet had signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with several universities in Nigeria to promote the science of meteorology within the academic institutions at tertiary level.
“To support national and regional development, NiMet continues to render services in support of aviation, agriculture, construction, tourism, defence, water resources management, telecommunications, environment, communications, etc”.
Prof. Matazu said, over the years, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), with support from the Federal Government has been investing in meteorological data generation over land, water and in the atmosphere and the data generated are so critical for past assessments and future predictions including now casting.
He explained that, the development of their products and services includes the effective utilisation of young minds as well as the experience within the Agency creating innovations “to what we do and how we do them”.
“This has positively impacted on our routine publications and on-demand services such as the Seasonal Climate Prediction as part of the Agency’s meteorological Early Warning System in line with the United Nations Early Warning for ALL”.
“Other products and services include Hydrometeorological Bulletin, Annual State of the Climate report in Nigeria, Agrometeorological Bulletin, Climate and Health Bulletin, Daily weather outlooks and bulletins, TV weather forecasts, Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts, Marine Bulletin, Impact-Based Weather Forecast, and multitudes of other routine and on-demand products and services cutting across all socio-economic sectors”.
He added, “As an Agency, we are also working to preserve our past resources in terms of publications and instrumentation while developing new ones, thereby providing a robust knowledge base for the upcoming generations”.
The World Meteorological Day therefore, offers opportunity for member countries to converge ideas and resources; and align in one common thematic area.
The ‘Day’ showcases the essential contribution of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHss) such as NiMet and NIHSA (Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency) to the safety and wellbeing of society and is celebrated with activities around the world.
