Chijioke Iremeka
The Federal Government has promised to deploy climate-smart predictions and warnings to enhance the socio-economic development of the citizens across the country and to avert any form of climate change-induced disasters.
The FG also said it will continue to prioritise the issuance of early disaster warnings to avert losses associated with it.
This is even as it promised to intensify efforts toward addressing the issue of global warming and its attendant adverse effects to accelerate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, made the promises on behalf of the FG at the closing ceremony of the 2024 edition of the Regional Climate Outlook Forum for West Africa and the Sahel, held in Abuja,
He said that the FG would deploy climate-smart predictions and warnings to enhance the socio-economic development of the citizens, recalling that the government had made a public presentation of the Seasonal Climate Prediction early in the year through NIMET.
Keyamo said, “SCP is an early warning tool highlighting vital Weather and climate information that may affect socio-economic activities in air, land, and water transportation.
“The SCP also gives useful information on agriculture, tourism, water resources, disaster management and mitigation, health, sports, power and energy.
“A similar event was recently held by the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency where the Annual Flood Outlook was released to Nigerians.”
The Minister said the reports would also help to forestall the reoccurrence of the 2022 flooding in the country, which caused massive damage to lives, property, and agricultural produce in the country.
According to him, 2022 saw one of the worst cases of flooding in decades in the country, which affected the movement of people and goods between the northern and southern parts of the country for weeks.
He recalled that after the flood, millions of Nigerians had lost their homes, sources of livelihood, and properties worth millions of naira.
Keyamo, who said that the outcome of the regional climate outlook forum would be a great planning tool for governments and policymakers across the region, lamented that after the flood, investments in farms and other agricultural products disappeared, and lives were lost.
He added, “Experts and researchers in meteorology and climate sciences from across the West African sub-region and the Sahel had dedicated their energy and intellect to develop a comprehensive forecast for the region, targeting the coming rainy season.
“Just as the general airspace is a continuum in aviation, weather and climate events are also transboundary, hence the need for us to work together irrespective of boundaries.
“We should downscale the outcomes of this forum to our local and rural communities to achieve the United Nations’ target of Early Warning for All by 2027.”
Keyamo assured that Nigeria would continue to support regional efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change and encourage weather and climate-smart sustainable development.
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