The Director General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Charles Anosike, has said farmers and residents of agrarian communities will benefit from the agency’s partnerships with universities and other tertiary institutions across the country.
Anosike said this while signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NiMet and Taraba State University yesterday in Abuja.
He said: “NiMet’s network of university partners is increasing. This adds to the weather and climate data available to us, in addition to the data being generated by our agency-owned weather stations. These various data enrich the accuracy of our weather forecasts in fulfilment of our mandate. These ultimately benefit the local farmers and other users”.
The NiMet boss promised that the agency would continue to monitor the performances of the MoUs it signed with universities and other higher institutions to ensure the fulfillment of their obligations.
The Vice Chancellor of Taraba State University, Prof. Sunday Paul Bako, said the partnership with NiMet would enable the institution to meet the needs of the immediate university community and the larger community, which is agrarian.
He said: “We have departments of Geography, Agriculture, and others, including Ecotourism, at the Taraba State University, that would benefit from the partnership and intervention. Our agricultural faculty runs extension programmes. So, with the data generated from the weather station, we can raise awareness on sustainable farming and climate-smart practices.”
The MoU is for four years and is renewable.
The aim of the collaboration is the promotion of activities relating to meteorology and climate change in Nigeria.
The partnership is also expected to enhance the capacity of the parties to provide relevant tools that will boost the delivery of products and services to various sectors related to meteorology and climate change in Nigeria.
