NIMET Cautions Pilots, Airlines On Weather Reports

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), has advised pilots and airline operators to adhere to weather reports on heavy thunder-storms in the months of March, June and October, even as it predicted favourable weather for air travel this year.

The Director-General of NIMET, Dr Anthony Anoforum who was speaking on the 2012 weather forecast explained that the thunder-storms which would begin in March would climax in June, with another occurring in October this year for Lagos and Abuja areas.

“Our airlines should be cautious during this raining period; they need to be very careful because this is the time associated with thunder-storms. This is the time that very dangerous clouds come up and make flight dangerous.

He said that the country might not experience unusual cases  of rainfall as witnessed in Lagos and Ibadan last year, but advised Nigerians to always heed to weather forecast in the disposal of waste.

“The fact that rainfall may  not be as heavy as we saw last year does not mean that there is nothing to worry about; we need to take precaution so that the negative effects will be avoided,” he said .

On the transformation of NIMET, he explained that a lot of changes had taken place, from upgrading operational equipment to improving what was on ground.

“I must say that the transformation has been tremendous, we have  some key projects like the national weather centre which has given NIMET a very amiable identity,” he said.

According to him, ageing workforce and finance have remained the challenges facing the agency because to train someone on the job would take a lot of time.

“We have that problem of ageing workforce and ours is not a general duty type of job. It is a job that requires specialized training and requires  a lot of experience for the job to be properly done and many of these people are retiring,” he added.

Reward Akwu