How to stem humanitarian crises, by NiMet DG

• Warns of heavy rain falls, flooding in N/E, SW

The director general of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) Prof Mansur Matazu says the agency’s collaborations with various partners, government, and non-governmental organizations to co-produce and deliver user-defined impact-based products and services remained accurate, reliable, and timely.

Matazu stated this after being conferred with Fellow of Risk Managers Society of Nigeria, (RIMSON) as well as the Distinguish Service Award by the Rotary Club of Abuja Metro (RCAM)

According to the NiMet boss almost across all continents of the world, the humanitarian crisis is on the increase, requiring cooperation and various levels of partnership to overcome.

Matazu observed that the national development of any nation was in jeopardy in an atmosphere of chaos, diseases, disaster, epidemics, food insecurity, hazard, and many more.

Matazu noted that Rotary Club as a non-governmental organization and a non-profit humanitarian service provider was commendable, especially with the many challenges being experienced in the world today

He noted that at the heart of the solution was Rotary international supporting global efforts at improving quality of life and building international relationships.

According to Matazu the new president of the Rotary Club, Rotarian Ifeanyi Nnodu, was an effective pillar of progress in NiMet until his retirement as a worthy Director of Weather Forecasting Services.

The RCAM is the biggest Rotary Club in Africa with a membership of over 200 from various professions

The decision by the Board of Trustees and the Executive Management of RIMSON to confer the award of the Fellow of Risk Managers Society of Nigeria on Professor Matazu was done in recognition of his integrity, professionalism, commitment, and contribution to Risk Management as well as the contribution of NiMet to preventing and mitigating disasters in Nigeria under his leadership.

Meanwhile, the agency has warned against floods in North East and South West Nigeria just as NiMet

has advised Nigerians especially those in Taraba state and some parts of the South West areas to be wary of impending floods as a result of expected rainfall.

Speaking on the recent days of rain falls in some parts of the country, the NiMet boss, advised Nigerians to be prepared for flooding in some parts of the country adding that climate change has affected activities across the world.

Matazu explained, that NiMet recorded 95 percent precision and accuracy in the last 15 years adding, that according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO),  60 percent was good

The NiMet boss expressed displeasure that most states and local governments were not connected to the national level in adherence to early warnings by not aligning to their activities

He also stressed the need for MDAs to take all the advice from NiMet to mitigate the impact of flooding adding, that poor response remained the bane

The NiMet boss called for adequate compliance as it was critical to avoid the severity of the flood

Matazu however expressed optimism that with the agency’s good working relationship with the National Orientation Agency and Ministry of Communication, a lot of sensitization will be done to ensure that people take climate forecast into their daily activities

On adherence to the forecast by farmers, Matazu explained, that the agency has distributed farmers’ rain gauges to them for monitoring to enable them to feedback to the agency

Matazu urged Nigerians to desist from pouring refuse into the water channels and to stop building on waterways to mitigate flooding.

Wole Shadare