ECOWAS Partners NiMet On Disaster Risk Reduction, Regional Early Warning Systems
Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Abuja, and the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Charles Anosike, are seeking for the recognition of NiMet’s Training Centres as ECOWAS Centres of Excellence for capacity development in meteorology and climate science.
At a meeting between the two organizations held at NiMet’s headquarters in Abuja, both parties agreed on the need to formalize their collaboration through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which is expected to be signed soon to guide and expand their joint activities.
Both parties agreed to close ranks in order to enhance disaster preparedness (EW4ALL). The ECOWAS team Commission led by Dr. Sintiki Tarfa Ugbe, Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs Dr. Ugbe commended NiMet’s leadership in advancing climate services across West Africa and recalled the Agency’s pivotal role during the Sierra Leone mudslide disaster, a demonstration of proactive and competent regional support.
Ugbe underscored the importance of anticipatory action, early warning dissemination, and collaborative responses to humanitarian crises, describing NiMet as a key partner in driving regional coordination, co-development of services, and capacity-building.
She stressed the need for deeper collaboration, identifying areas of mutual interest such as joint training programmes, technical exchanges, and broader access to climate knowledge products tailored to regional priorities. The meeting also stressed the need for mutual expressions of commitment to scale up regional resilience through science-driven, people-centred climate action.
Prof. Charles Anosike in his welcome address, reaffirmed NiMet’s commitment to fostering regional cooperation in climate and weather services. Anosike emphasized the Agency’s strategic role in strengthening early warning systems and expressed readiness to support ECOWAS initiatives through technical expertise, training, and access to meteorological data.
Anosike expressed appreciation for the recognition by ECOWAS and reiterated NiMet’s dedication to regional partnerships.
He called for strengthened institutional frameworks and urged ECOWAS to support NiMet’s cost recovery initiatives to ensure the sustainability of climate services.
He also reaffirmed NiMet’s alignment with global initiatives like the United Nations’ Early Warnings for All (EW4All) through the development of a National Framework for Early Warning Services that supports end-to-end coordination across the climate value chain.
The establishment of the ECOWAS Disaster Operation Centre, which is being led by Prof. Mansur Bako Matazu, the immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and a member of the visiting delegation was also brought to the front burner.
The Centre is designed to function as a regional hub for the coordination of multi-hazard early warning dissemination and for addressing climate-related vulnerabilities across Member States.
