NiMet regional training centre elected into World Meteorological Council

By Miriam Humbe

A significant landmark has been achieved for Nigeria with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) Regional Training Centre, Oshodi, elected as member of the World Meteorological Organization’s Executive Council Capacity Development Panel (WMO-CDP).
Director-General /CEO NiMet, Prof. Sani Abubakar Mashi said this provides a veritable and pleasant distraction from the COVID 19 problem.
“The WMO has just elected the Agency’s Regional Training Centre (RTC) to join the Organization’s Capacity Development Panel”, he said.
Describing this as a milestone, Prof. Mashi disclosed that out of the 24 Meteorological Regional Training Centres in the world, four from each of the six continents, NiMet is the only one elected by WMO into the 12-member panel to represent all the Regional Training Centres in the world.
He observed that this is worth celebrating as it is a clear and positive indication of the aggressive reforms the Minister, Sen. Hadi Sirika has been championing in the Nigerian Aviation sector.
The Director of the Meteorological Regional Training Centre, Prof. Peter Odjugo is to serve as the representative of the Centre at the Panel.
The work of the panel will among other things, include support institutional, infrastructural, procedural and human resources capacity development activities of WMO, with the intention of closing the gap between less developed and developed countries.
The Panel will normally meet each year and make effective use of remote coordination and collaboration.
The implication of this development is that NiMet is further strengthened to assist sister meteorological institutions in Africa, particularly in the area of human and infrastructural capacity development, thus consolidating in its leadership role in the continent.