By Chris Agabi
The Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) have entered into a partnership agreement that will see NiMet provide bespoke tailored weather advisory services to NIWA.
The deal was sealed on Wednesday in Abuja at the NiMet Headquarters when the NIWA signed a memorandum of agreement with NiMet.
The Managing Director/CEO Dr. Kingsley Moghalu signed on behalf of NIWA while the NiMet Director General, Prof. Mansur Bako Matazu signed on behalf of NiMet.
Speaking at the event, the NIWA MD said the collaboration of both entities will be mutually beneficial. “. NiMet and NIWA are like Siemens twins. We have something to give benefit the society. We need each other to actualize our mandate” he said.
“NIWA’s primary responsibility is to ensure that our inland waterways are all year navigable. For us to do this, there must be collaboration. There must be a relationship between NIWA and NiMet for guidance. There is a need for collaboration between NIWA’s weather department and NiMet” he further stated.
“This is a relationship we believe very strongly will serve the interest of our people, and improve the operational efficiency of both agencies” he further stated.
Speaking on the recent boat mishaps, Dr. Moghalu said some of the accidents are avoidable as they are human error induced.
“When you overload a vessel, knowing fully well the capacity, you are calling for trouble. When you go on the water without a life jacket, you are calling for trouble if you prepare at the wrong hour of the night, you are calling for trouble because vessels by our policy shouldn’t operate at night, especially where the vessel doesn’t have night navigational aid” he said.
In his comments, the NiMet DG Prof. Matazu said has “already set up a mechanism in terms of equipment, processes, procedures, and personnel to provide tailored services to NIWA operations inland.
Even on the extreme events, we have seen the flood events in the country. It is a result of inland flash floods or riverine bank overflows. We don’t have to be blaming other countries’ dams operations.”
“We have seen most of the waters have been generated within this country. That shows we have to monitor on a real-time basis what happens within the water shade. I think from personal experience too that the best way to approach sustainable development is to look at our society at micro water shade level.”
“If you go any river channel and take a sample of the water, you will know what happens upstream. Whether there is deforestation or population. With that, you can develop a more sustainable environmental conservation activity. So, I’m sure this relationship will benefit even beyond water resources because we come up with a lot of environmental monitoring mechanisms, and early warnings that we can also support other sectors” he noted.
