Aviation Minister Wants WMO To Help Bridge Experts, Politicians’ Gap

Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika has called on the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to “intensify effort in encouraging cooperation among members and assist in bridging the existing gap between the Political Class and the Experts on the field.”
Speaking during the 76th session of the WMO Executive Council held in Geneva, Switzerland, Sirika told the gathering that “one practice that has enabled Meteorological development in Nigeria is the strong synergy and support between the Political Class (which I represent) and the Expert (represented by Prof. Matazu). We strive to ensure we have the right leadership at the helm of affairs of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), and the Agency under the leadership of Mansur Matazu, has also demonstrated commitment to excellence by judicious utilisation of resources, broad stakeholders’ engagements, and result-oriented goals with clearly detailed regular reporting.
During my time, NiMet has grown in size, visibility and relevance, not only in Nigerian but in the region and indeed globally.
New products have been introduced by the Agency. These include Seasonal Climate Prediction (including its Summary for Policy Makers and translated version), the State of the Climate in Nigeria, Climate and Health Bulletin, Hydrometeorological bulletin, Agrometeorological bulletin, Extreme Weather Events Bulletin, Marine meteorological bulletin, 3-days Impact based Forecast and many more on different timescales and validity.
These products and many more tailored services have generated lots of interest within the nation up to the Presidency that culminated into the President personally commissioning a National Meteorological Institute of Science and Technology in his home State and in his honour. There is increased inter-Agency synergy along the Climate Services Value Chain, bringing together the meteorological, hydrological, disaster management and all responders together as we develop and practice Multi-hazard Early Warning System for All Nigerians. NiMet forecasts provide basis for the Annual Flood Outlook and Disaster Preparedness in Nigeria by both Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency and National Emergency Management Agency (who are both in two separate Ministries of Governments).
The Agency has provided interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Malawi in terms of Capacity Building, Technical Assistance, Quality Management Systems and Competency framework. We have successfully hosted, providing leadership, and participated in Regional Climate Outlook Forums. Nigeria was recently part of and led the Country Hydromet Diagnostic (CHD) in Liberia and Sierra Leone. We hosted a Study Visit by both National Meteorological Services of Republic of Niger and The Gambia. We provided hosting support for the WMO HydroSOS initiative and earnestly working to take the initiative to the implementation phase.”