Charles Anosike, the Director General and of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), has reiterated the commitment of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to address humanitarian emergencies occasioned by conflicts, natural disasters, extreme weather events, and climate change.
Anosike who stated this during the Agency’s 2nd roundtable meeting on ‘Anticipatory Action Framework For Nigeria’, advocated for inter-agency cooperation and partnership to achieve collective success for Nigeria.
According to him, the Agency has continued to leverage its competent personnel and improved technological tools to provide early warnings products and services through accurate, timely and actionable weather forecasts and climate prediction that allows anticipation of severe weather events.
This he said is critical to enable individuals, authorities, and communities prepare for anticipatory early action such as evacuation, resource mobilization, infrastructure reinforcement.
“Our work, through continuous weather observation, monitoring and reporting, and impact-based forecasting is crucial for disaster preparedness and response thereby ensuring the right quantity of human and material resources are mobilised for the safety of vulnerable communities,” he said.
In his remarks, Trond Jensen, the Head of Office for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Nigeria noted the several changes ongoing worldwide, both in terms of climate change, and changing demographics which makes some people more vulnerable.
Read also: NiMet gears up to unveil 2025 seasonal climate prediction
“However, the prevention is always better than the cure. So, our ability to anticipate so that we can prevent or mitigate climate-related incidents, not only do we reduce suffering, but we also save money in the process, which is critical,” he said.
Umar Ibrahim Mohammed, the Director General, of Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), hoped that from the deliberations, participants would be able to come up with solutions and actionable plans to be able to deliver on the changes required to mitigate climate impacts.
