NiMet: Former boss advises FG on climate resilient systems

Dr Anthony Anuforom, former Director-General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), has advised the government to review its systems to make them climate resilient as a result of the climate change.

Anuforom gave the advice on the sideline of the public presentation of 2019 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP), by NiMet on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that building of infrastructure for instance should be reviewed to be able to withstand the impact of climate change, especially rainfall pattern.

According to him, our building codes should be reviewed to make them more climate resilient, which fits into the 2019 selected theme of NiMet, that is, “Be Weather ready, Be Climate Smart’’.

“Everything we are doing should be climate smart so that our systems are not vulnerable and more resilient to the impact of climate change.

“Continually, we must strive to improve because that is what science is about as you propound a theory, you work on it and improve on it since you can review the methodologies and model you are using,’’ he said.

Anuforom said that SRP was a well-established tradition in NiMet, adding that vigour had been added to the system compared to what was done during his period as the director general of the agency.

He commended NiMet for the continuous improvement of the SRP, saying the agency had achieved greater level of spatial resolution covering 774 local government areas.

According to him, science is a continuous improvement because of the knowledge, methodologies, technologies involved as they are evolving, that will also help them to improve on the quality of what they are producing.

“If you look at the prediction, it touches different very critical sectors of the economy.

“Starting with agriculture for instance, they have predicted shorter than normal rainfall in many places.

“So, what is important is that this prediction should be taken further down the line.

“The decision makers in agriculture should know that this year, you must select crops and varieties that would survive when you have shorter than normal rainfall.

“If you look at other aspects also, although we are going to have below normal to normal rainfall, the possible occurrence of flash floods is not ruled out.

“I am happy that the present NiMet management has imbibed that practice of continuous improvement and I want to congratulate them for achieving this feat,’’ he said.