Walter Ukaegbu, Abuja
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bayero University, Kano (BUK).
The MoU, which was borne out of the need for a mutually beneficial synergy, is also aimed at satisfying the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) requirement of having at least one meteorological station in every 100 square kilometres of the country.
According to the Director General/CEO, NiMet, Prof. Sani Abubakar Mashi, who spoke at the MoU signing event and commissioning of the varsity’s meteorological station, “without weather and climate, there cannot be life and by extension, development. NiMet, as mandated by the Federal Government, would continually provide weather and climate advice to sectors that require this to ensure that development under any guise, is sustained. To actualise this, we need partnerships.
“BUK is a second generation university, which informed our decision to include it among the list of 34 universities to kick-start the phase one programme of partnerships with tertiary institutions in Nigeria and to increase our density of meteorological stations.”
Furthermore, Prof. Mashi added that with these collaborations, the negative effects associated with weather and climate would be reduced due to the efficacy of forecast issued by NiMet. Responding to the NiMet’s boss’ remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Muhammad Bello, restated his commitment to work with NiMet and promised to adhere to all the obligations as prescribed in the MoU. The collaboration between NiMet and BUK would also involve training of staff of the university on instrumentation and accurate weather forecasting, as well as hands-on training on observation by making effective use of the weather station installed for them at the university by NiMet.