NiMet And International Rescue Committee (IRC) To Strengthen Collaboration
Oru Leonard
Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which works in more than 50 countries and in 28 U.S. cities to help people affected by humanitarian crises to survive, recover and rebuild their lives, have said that the two agencies will strengthen their collaboration.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to NiMet headquarters in Abuja, by the Governance Coordinator of IRC, Mrs Dorcas Kingsley David and her team, the Director General, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), and Nigeria’s permanent representative with World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Professor Charles Anosike, said the visit by the IRC team presented a good opportunity for the two agencies to strengthen their collaboration in different areas as Nigeria gets set for the rainy season.
“We see good opportunities to integrate NiMet’s seasonal climate prediction (SCP) information into the the various activities of IRC as it will give NiMet the opportunity to receive feedback directly from the farmers and communities”.
Continuing, Professor Anosike said; “There are further opportunities to partner with IRC in research and develop a document together. We cannot talk about socio-economic development without adequate climate resilient data”.
Concluding, Professor Anosike charged IRC to leverage their relationship with big tech companies to attract Ai and data analytics training for NiMet staff.
Responding, Mrs Dorcas Kingsley David, the Governance Cordinator of IRC said NiMet and IRC have been collaborating since 2020.
“IRC appreciates NiMet for all the support. We need further support on flood- trigger workshops from NiMet where we share information to the communities telling them what to expect and what to do if there is flood.
IRC wants to ensure that it partners properly with agencies such as NiMet in its work as weather and climate change continue to impact on the lives of people. We are inviting the DG/CEO of NiMet and other senior NiMet staff to visit some of IRC’s locations in the communities”, Mrs David concluded.
