LAGOS – The embrace of technology by Nigeria can assist it in addressing some of the challenges confronting the society, Prof. Charles Anosike, the Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (Nimet) has said.
A statement by Nimet on Wednesday, said that Anosike stated this in his office in Abuja on Tuesday, while exchanging views with Dr. Olajide Idris, the Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), who paid him a courtesy visit.
According to Anosike, leveraging on technology, NCDC recorded a huge success tackling some of the societal challenges in Nigeria during the period of COVID-19 pandemic.
The statement hinted that the two helmsmen during the meeting were able to discuss a wide range of issues, including identifying areas for collaboration such as early warning systems for climate-sensitive diseases and public health threats and how climate data could be integrated into disease prediction models.
The statement added that the impact of weather and climate on disease outbreaks like climate change, vector-borne and water-borne diseases, framework for regular data exchange and analysis to inform public health decisions and potential proposal for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for data sharing and joint research were also discussed.
Anosike emphsised that this was the right time for stronger collaboration between the two organisations.
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He said: “Every one of us is vulnerable to climate change. NiMet will look into all the areas identified, including sharing of data and developing a draft MoU. Every year NiMet presents its Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP), which is an early warning tool.
“What is happening nationwide has been predicted. We issue three and seven days, one-month, three months, and daily forecasts. The impact of climate change is real all over the world. We are alerting the various states. Each state should set up its processes to manage the flooding and other arising issues.”
Besides, Anosike explained that it was important for NiMet to forge a stronger partnership with NCDC, reiterating that climate change poses threats to the health and well-being of all.
He pointed out that climate change affects food, potable water and the air, stressing that this had caused the spread of certain pests and diseases across the world, not only in Nigeria.
On his part, Idris noted that with climate change impacting health services delivery nationally and globally, it was important to partner with NiMet, which he said already had data on the phenomenon.
“It’s a good thing that NiMet has been working with the NCDC over the years. We only need to make the collaboration stronger,” he said.
