NiMet to leverage Vaisala and MFI expertise as team visits agency

As part of the ongoing effort by the management of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), under the leadership of the Director General and Chief Executive Officer, and Permanent Representative of Nigeria with World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Prof Charles Anosike, to reposition the agency, improve operational efficiency and end – to -end service delivery, a team from Vaisala of Finland comprising James Gadiner, Kimmo Ristolainen and Vesa Koivula
from Vaisala, and Alexandre Bonnes from Meteo France International (MFI) of France recently undertook a three – day working visit to the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet).

The visit followed earlier meetings in June 2024 held in Geneva, Switzerland, with senior officials of the two firms on the sideline of the 78th Session of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Executive Council (EC). This was subsequently followed by the visit of a Ministerial team led by the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN.

Speaking during the visit, Professor Anosike said that the visit is aimed at understanding the observation infrastructure gaps and the integrated solutions for service delivery of the Agency.

“NiMet aims to leverage the experience and expertise of both Vaisala and MFI to close observation gaps in Nigeria focusing on integrated radar solutions, aviation AWOS, and many more. Also ensuring not only that weather and climate are observed but that the agency also has an integrated solution for seamless operation, information sharing, and last-mile dissemination of meteorological information for socio-economic impact. The outcome of the visit will inform a ‘Design, Build and Operate’ project proposal for the agency with integrated capacity development and sustainable plan”, Prof. Anosike said.

He commended the staff of NiMet for their ingenuity and hard work and assured of management’s readiness and commitment towards improving workplace infrastructure, systems, and environment to improve job satisfaction and efficient service delivery.

As part of the visit, the Vaisala and MFI team toured the existing infrastructure of NiMet within Abuja and used the opportunity to interact with operational officers across NiMet’s technical directorates.