Abuja — The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), has pledged its full cooperation to the National Water Resources Institute (NWRI), to upgrade its hydrology center to a regional center of excellence that recognised by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
The Director General of NiMet, Prof. Abubakar Mashi, said the WMO felt there was need to adopt a centre that would deal exclusively with training on operational hydrology, noting that WMO have asked that it comment and recommend a reputable water resources institute that can serve the aforementioned purpose.
“We have therefore, submitted the name of the National Water Resources Institute as a prestigious option for WMO to adopt,” he said.
Mashi made this pledge when the Executive Secretary of NWRI, Professor Emmanuel Adanu, led a delegation from the Institute to NiMet to solicit the agency’s cooperation in the quest to actualise the Institute’s mandate in general and setting up of the regional center in particular.
The NiMet DG, in a statement in Abuja, by the General Manager, Public Relations, NiMet, Muntari Yusuf, advised the Institute to deploy the use of technology to deliver training in order to make their request more compelling and appealing to the WMO.
This, he revealed would enable the institute to place itself in good stead ahead of other competing African countries.
According to him, “this show of confidence in the country’s capability to host an operational hydrology centre is premised on the track record demonstrated by NiMet at the global stage.
“WMO felt there is a need to also adopt a centre that will deal exclusively with training on operational hydrology and have asked us to comment and recommend a reputable Water Resources Institute that can serve the aforementioned purpose.
“We have therefore, submitted the name of the National Water Resources Institute as a prestigious option for WMO to adopt,” Prof Mashi declared.
Mashi, who doubles as the representative of WMO in Nigeria, welcomed the idea presented by the Executive Director of NWRI and gave assurance of NiMet’s support.
“The meeting marks the beginning of a fruitful relationship which will eventually culminate into the signing of a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the two parties.”
He, however, pointed out that despite NWRI’s long standing history in water resources management, the Institute still needs some guidance on how to navigate their relationship with the WMO, adding that the NWRI can leverage on NiMet’s experience with the world body garnered since 1954 when the Nigerian WMO Regional Training centre was established in Lagos.
Speaking earlier, Adanu who highlighted the mandate of the institute as being that of research and analyses of water distribution, the behavior of as well as how to modify the systems for the benefit of Nigerians, also appealed to NiMet to assist the institute in the areas of capacity building, skill and man power interchange between the two federal government organisations.
He noted that in view of this and other vistas of opportunities inherent in having a relationship with the agency, “we saw the need for the institute to visit NIMet in order to solicit for support, get necessary information, exchange views and learn more about each other”.
Adanu stated that NWRI was concerned with water which is an element that affects all lives.
He added: “Even without the WMO factor, we are together by virtue of our interactions with the water component. We are happy that the WMO is giving Nigeria another opportunity to demonstrate its capacity and capability towards managing the affairs in the regional level.”
