The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has appealed to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to support Nigeria in actualising the Early Warning For All(EW4All) road map.
Keyamo made the appeal on Thursday at the ongoing Aeronautical Meteorology Scientific Conference (AeroMetSci-2024) themed: “Aviation, weather and climate: scientific research and development for enhanced aeronautical meteorological services in a changing climate”.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria at the
conference organized by the Commission for Weather, Climate, Hydrological, Marine and Related Environmental Services and Applications (SERCOM),advocated for increased WMO presence in Nigeria recognizing the WMO Sub-regional Office located and supported by Nigeria.
He pledged that Nigeria would continue to fulfill its statutory obligations to the Regional Office in Abuja and to the WMO headquarters.
Keyamo recognized the role of meteorology in nation-building and aviation safety and the importance of Nigeria within the region, regarding technical assistance and capacity development initiatives for other member states.
He highlighted areas that WMO could increase support to Nigeria such as training, skills acquisition, increased fellowship opportunities for NiMet staff, and early warnings capacity development for industrial professionals.
The Director General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet)Professor Charles Anosike, said that WMO support is required for the proposal for Nigeria to become a Regional WIGOS Centre and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Centre of Excellence.
He appreciated the WMO for the support received during the training programme on NWP and affirmed Nigeria’s readiness to support member states within the region.
Responding, the WMO Secretary General, Prof. Celeste Saulo acknowledged the role of Nigeria in ensuring that no country is left behind in the region and its support in helping to develop other meteorological services in the region.
She praised the government support being received by the Meteorological Service of Nigeria and emphasized the importance of such support especially towards resource mobilization for improved service delivery, and early warning system improvement, especially for extreme weather events in the developing world.
Saulo further expressed her support for regional centers of excellence for meteorology and climate change.
She pledged her support and that of the WMO for Nigeria considering the strategic importance of the country to the development of meteorological services.
The objective of the conference is to showcase scientific and technological advances in meteorological observations, forecasts, advisories, and warnings, expand focus on the integration of meteorological information decision support services into the global air traffic management system, and examine further the impacts of climate change and variability on aviation.
