Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) have said that the two agencies will strengthen their collaboration.
This was stated during a courtesy visit to NiMet headquarters in Abuja, by the Governance Coordinator of IRC, Mrs Dorcas Kingsley David and her team.
The IRC is an organisation that works in more than 50 countries and in 28 US cities to help people affected by humanitarian crises to survive, recover and rebuild their lives.
Speaking during the visit, the Director General, Chief Executive Officer of NiMet, and Nigeria’s permanent representative with World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Professor Charles Anosike, said the visit by the IRC team presented a good opportunity for the two agencies to strengthen their collaboration in different areas as Nigeria gets set for the rainy season.
His words: “We see good opportunities to integrate NiMet’s seasonal climate prediction (SCP) information into the the various activities of IRC as it will give NiMet the opportunity to receive feedback directly from the farmers and communities.
“There are further opportunities to partner with IRC in research and develop a document together. We cannot talk about socio-economic development without adequate climate resilient data”.
He further charged the IRC to leverage their relationship with big tech companies to attract AI and data analytics training for NiMet staff.
On her part, Mrs Dorcas Kingsley David, the Governance Cordinator of IRC said NiMet and IRC have been collaborating since 2020.
She added: “IRC appreciates NiMet for all the support. We need further support on flood- trigger workshops from NiMet where we share information to the communities telling them what to expect and what to do if there is flood.
“IRC wants to ensure that it partners properly with agencies such as NiMet in its work as weather and climate change continue to impact on the lives of people. We are inviting the DG/CEO of NiMet and other senior NiMet staff to visit some of IRC’s locations in the communities”.
