WMO, Nimeth, MCEnies plan to improve flood risk communication in Nigeria

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has planned to work with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet),
MCEnies Global Communications, and partners to mitigate the increasing loss of lives and livelihood in vulnerable communities in the country due to flooding.

International expert meteorologist, Tim Donovan, who disclosed this at a workshop, with the theme, “Improving Flood Risk Communication in Nigeria,” yesterday, in Abuja, said that climate and weather patterns are changing, hence the need for people to receive information, understand it and make life-saving decisions.

Donovan said the WMO had made a great start by galvanising government agencies and the media who are all parts of the solution with the aim to work together to reach Nigerians and to deliver information in an understandable and accessible manner to enable people to make decisions that would protect their lives and livelihood.

Also, a meteorologist with NiMet, Desmond Onyilo, said the agency provides weather updates and flood alerts but added that people most times were usually caught in the web because of their perception and ancestral attachments to their homes.

”We produce a daily weather forecast and send them out as videos. We noticed that the viewership of our videos spike immediately after a major rainfall, which tells us that when we push these forecasts out, people don’t care about them until they notice a major rainfall. It has to do with perception from the public.

On her part, the facilitator and Chief Executive Officer of MCEnies Global Communications, OmolaraeniOlaosebikan, said that there had been a huge communication gap in flood risk management in the country, adding that the workshop is aimed at ensuring effective communication to Nigerians during flooding, especially in rural areas.