NiMet’s Collaboration With Universities to Enhance Agricultural Productivity – Anosike
The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Professor Charles Anosike, has reaffirmed that the agency’s partnerships with universities across Nigeria will significantly benefit farmers and communities dependent on agriculture.
Professor Anosike made this assertion during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NiMet and Taraba State University on Thursday, 13th February 2025.
He highlighted that the agency’s growing network of university collaborators enhances the scope of weather and climate data available for analysis.
“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,” he stated.
He further assured that NiMet would continuously evaluate the implementation of the MoUs signed with universities and higher institutions to ensure all parties remain committed to their obligations.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of Taraba State University, Professor Sunday Paul Bako, emphasised that the partnership with NiMet aligns with the university’s mission to address the needs of its academic community and the wider agrarian society.
“We have departments of Geography, Agriculture, and others, including Ecotourism at 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,” Professor Bako noted.
The agreement, which spans four years and is renewable, aims to promote meteorological and climatological activities while addressing climate change challenges in Nigeria.
It also seeks to enhance the capacity of both institutions in providing tools and services that will improve various sectors reliant on meteorological and climate-related data.
