The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has stated that the Federal Government is set to implement early warning systems to combat climate change threats, particularly in rural areas.
Keyamo said 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 event, co-hosted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, took place recently in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, Keyamo stated that some of the greatest challenges of the 21st century are climate change, extreme weather events, and food security.
“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.
The minister, who recalled horrible flood cases that claimed many lives as well as means of livelihood, stated that the Federal Government was not taking the issue of climate change with levity.
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, the Director-General of NiMet, Charles Anosike, mentioned 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.
