NIMET Boss Commits To Weather Infrastructure Improvement

The Director-General/CEO, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and Permanent Representative of Nigeria with World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Prof. Mansur Bako Matazu has pledged that he is “well committed to improving infrastructure and equipment for weather observation and forecasting.”
In his Goodwill Message at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) / Airport Council International-Africa (ACI-Africa) Safety Week 2021 held today in Abuja, Matazu said: “In a move to ensure that the giant steps taken and the gains made by the Agency in the aviation sector in recent years are not eroded, on my assumption of office earlier this year, the management of NiMet constituted an Aviation Task Team. The work of the Team is to assess and evaluate the state of our equipment and infrastructure including human resource, across all the airports in the country, and make recommendations where necessary, for improved safety and service delivery. The Team has so far assessed the nation’s Airports at Abuja, Kaduna, Lagos, Katsina, Kano, Port Harcourt and Calabar Airports. Assessments of other airports have also been scheduled to commence soon.
I therefore urge every stakeholder here present to continue to support government in the effort to ensure security and safety at our airports.”
Matazu further said: “While we all work hard to build security and safety culture at our airports, we must not lose sight of safety at take-off, airborne, and landing. This is largely dependent on the prevailing weather conditions at the airports and enroute. This is where we work tirelessly all-hours, as an agency of government, to ensure safety of lives and property onboard every flight.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), is mandated by its Establishment Act of 2003, to provide timely, accurate, and reliable weather and climate forecasts and information to guide policy and decision making, as well as provide weather and climate advisories to stakeholders across all sectors of our dear nation. The aviation sector is one of the key areas of our mandates where our products and services are critical for the safety of air operations for both civil and military purposes.
From the beginning to the end of every flight journey, weather events are critical. Hence, the importance of availability of adequate information regarding current and predicted weather cannot be overemphasized.”