……..Match Early Warning with Early Action- Hadi Sirika
The Minister of aviation,Sen. Hadi Sirika has called on relevant stakeholders to match early climate warnings from the Nigerian meteorological agency with early action.
The minister made the call while presenting NiMet’s 2023 Seasonal climate prediction in Abuja. He Thanked the National assembly for the new Nimet act 2022 adding that “mitigating disaster via early warning , should be matched by early action to reduce disaster risk” .
He further lamented the death of over 600 people and displacement of thousands due to non adherence to warnings about flooding last year.
The event which featured representatives from the world meteorological agency and stakeholders from aviation,water resources,Niger-Delta, Agriculture, health and other ministries featured presentation of 2022 state of the climate as well as the 2023 SCP .
“A near normal rainfall with onset earlier than the long term average in most parts of the country is predicted”.
“Delayed onset of rainfall is predicted in parts of Katsina, Zamfara,Kano,Jigawa and Yobe in the north, Cross River,Ebonyi,Imo and Rivers state”.
“Both daytime and nighttime temperatures are expected to be warmer than the long term average over most of the country the country in January,March and May, however February day and night time temperatures are predicted to be cooler than the long term average “.
The DG NiMet Prof Mansur Matazu explaining the predictions said
A headstart of up to 3 months has been given with the SCP coming earlier than other years to enable MDAs at Federal states, local governments and other use the information for planning.
Speaking on the rainfall he said
“It is going to be somehow normal unlike 2022 but with pockets of extreme weather events.
Expect flash floods in riverine areas”
“Climate is changing locally in Nigeria from all the indicators so also our actions should change”.
Matazu called on MDAs and all Nigerians to make judicious use of the advisories and warnings to save lives and property.
High vigilance for Meningitis is anticipated over the extreme Northeast from January while high vigilance for malaria is anticipated at the coastal zones in the same time frame.
Speaking at the event, the minister of state for Niger Delta, Sharon Ikeazor commended the president for establishing the climate change council in 2021, noting that NIMET was one of it’s most important parts. She commended other members like NEMA for their synergy and cooperation, she also commended farmers for adopting what she called climate smart agriculture stating that she was working closely with the DG NIMET to establish the Niger Delta climate change action act in order to better the quality of life of her people.
The event also featured the honorable minister recieving a honorary doctorate in air transport from representatives of the university of the holy Quran and reorigination of science, Sudan.
In his closing remarks the minister noted that even though the public only took notice of the work done on airports and aircrafts, a lot more went into Civil Aviation including initiatives like the SCP, Farmer rain gifts initiative in partnership with the World Meteorological organization and more.
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