The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has embarked on manpower development by training its technical staff. Speaking in Abuja at the opening of a capacity building workshop for state meteorological inspectors and chief meteorological technologists, NiMet’s directorgeneral and chief executive officer, Prof. Abubakar Mashi, said it was organised specifically for the agency’s officers with the responsibility of coordinating weather observation in all NiMet weather stations across the country. He charged the participants to observe strictly those virtues that have positive impact on their jobs and also disclosed that NiMet, under his watch, would work to improve staff welfare in all respects stressing “I believe in making staff satisfied because then, they will perform optimally.” On the enabling law establishing NiMet as sole
agency with responsibility to collect meteorological data and disseminate same to the public, Mashi said the law “is weak in some areas” and called for a review to strengthen the agency and give it power to prosecute violators. He said the agency was working to increase the number of operational weather stations across the country in line with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) specifications, as well as mapping out strategies to increase its internally generated revenue. Commenting on increasing the number of weather stations, the director general said it would be done by creating synergy with operators of already existing private weather stations and sharing data with them. “Their current operations will be reviewed and their capacity improved upon so that the integrity of the data they generate will be acceptable anywhere,” he added.
