Nigeria: NiMet, Unizik forge strategic partnership to establish weather station
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) formalised their collaboration on Friday, 12th January, 2024, in a significant move towards bolstering climate information accessibility.
The occasion marked the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at constructing a state-of-the-art weather station within the university premises.
Professor Charles Esimone, representing the Governing Council of Unizik, and Professor Charles Anosike of NiMet inked the MoU, solidifying their commitment to advancing weather and climate information dissemination.
During the ceremony, Professor Anosike urged Unizik’s Management to take a leading role in disseminating NiMet’s Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) to farmers and various stakeholders in Anambra state and beyond.
He emphasised the strategic significance of the partnership in ensuring timely and crucial weather information for farmers and other users.
Expressing gratitude for Unizik’s dedication, Professor Anosike highlighted the potential impact of the collaboration on local farmers, students, lecturers, and researchers.
“The MoU signed with Unizik to partner in building a weather station in the university is a big achievement for NiMet as the partnership will ensure that farmers and other users receive timely weather and climate information”, Anosike said.
He commended Professor Esimone for Unizik’s commitment to the MoU, underscoring the university’s recognition of the importance of weather and climate information.
In response, Professor Esimone affirmed Unizik’s commitment to fulfilling the terms of the MoU, considering it a landmark achievement.
He stressed the university’s readiness to match NiMet’s financial contributions to the project and outlined plans to involve the Centre for Community Development (CCD) for enhanced farmer education.
Additionally, Prof. Esimone proposed the training of relevant Unizik staff by NiMet to ensure the sustained success of the partnership.
“I am promising NiMet that Unizik will play its part in fulfilling the terms of the MoU which is a landmark accomplishment.
“Not only our local farmers, but our students, lecturers and researchers will benefit from this relationship especially in the areas of information on climate prediction and climate change”.
“Unizik will match the financial commitments of NiMet to the project by two because weather and climate information is critical to economic development”.
“We will also involve our Centre for Community Development (CCD) with this project so that we can improve on farmer education. NiMet should also consider training relevant Unizik staff to help sustain the terms of the MoU”, he concluded.
The signing ceremony was attended by Professor Ifeanyi Christian Enete of the Department of Geography and Meteorology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Unizik, along with directors from NiMet, further solidifying the collaborative spirit between the two institutions.
