In order to implement climate change threats, particularly in rural areas, Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has urged the Federal Government to set early warning to the system.
Keyamo revealed this during the closing ceremony of the 2024 annual Regional Climate Outlook Forum, with a focus on seasonal forecasting of agro-hydro-climatic conditions in the Sahelian and Sudan regions of West Africa.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, event was held recently in Abuja.
“To combat these challenges, it has become imperative that weather and climate information be not only accurate but also produced and disseminated early. Thus, there is a need for early warnings.
“In 2022, we had one of the worst cases of flooding in decades. For weeks, the movement of people and goods between the northern and southern parts of the country was severely disrupted,” he noted.
Keyamo said that the Federal Government was not taking the issue of climate change with levity serious, also recalled that horrible flood cases that claimed many lives as well as means of livelihood.
He declared, “By the end of that flood period, millions of people had lost their homes and livelihoods, property worth millions of dollars had been destroyed, investments in farms and other agricultural products had disappeared, and lives had been lost.
“The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has taken seriously the issuance of early warnings for its citizenry to de-risk sectorial activities and avert economic losses because our economy can’t afford further losses due to the effects of climate change and we are taking the campaign to the grassroots for Nigerians who do not have the privilege to access some private information.”
Also speaking, Charles Anosike, the Director-General of NiMet, explained that the recommendations discussed during the forum had been accepted for immediate implementation to counter the impacts of climate change, especially with the upcoming rainy season.
