The Nigeria Metrological Service Agency (NIMET) has repeatedly emphasized the necessity for private sector involvement in the subsector, citing the declining fortunes of government funding of agencies and the need to scale up the funding of Metrological activities in the nation.During the inaugural French-Nigeria meteorological seminar and business meeting, Professor Mansur Matazu, the Director General of NIMET, made the call and pointed out that in addition to staff attrition brought on by inadequate pay and many other factors, the cost of conducting meteorological business is also rising.
He states, "It is imperative to embrace and explore that Public Private Partnership as government funding of meteorological activities such as instrumentation, new technologies, equipment, welfare, communication, and data exchange is woefully inadequate."
Prof. Matazu said that NIMET has been developing a range of products and services that are dependable, accurate, timely, and actionable in accordance with the agency's mandate. It has also been promoting and implementing initiatives in support of national socio-economic development across all economic sectors.
"Among them is Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP), an Early Warning System that identifies critical meteorological and climate data that could impact socioeconomic activities in the areas of agriculture, water resources, tourism, power and energy, health, and air, land, and water transportation. Additional items include public weather forecasts, impact-based weather forecasts, marine inshore and offshore forecasts, heavy rainfall forecasts, and many more.
He emphasized that in order to continue providing these goods and services in the face of the current economic climate, it is necessary to adopt credible public-private partnerships and engagements that can offer creative and affordable technological solutions that will facilitate business for the greatest possible effects.
The director general of NIMET stated, "We need to establish more partnerships. The World Meteorological Organization has a concept called meteorological enterprise, which states that government and the private sector must collaborate in order to provide weather services and monitor the weather for better sustainability and livelihood in Africa."
According to him, the PPP method is bringing together countries such as Ghana, Cameroon, and Uganda, among other collaborators, to explore ways in which businesses may work with the public sector to enhance service delivery.
The Ghana Eric Asuman Meteorological Agency's Acting Director General noted that because many different sectors of the economy rely on weather and climate services, meteorological agencies bear a great deal of responsibility. As such, they must work hard to improve the services they provide, particularly in regions of the world where resources are scarce. Collaborating with the private sector, which has the capacity and resources to do so, will help them fill in the gaps in their service delivery.
A government representative for France stated that since the Paris Agreement, their country has taken the lead in combating climate change and that they are working to incorporate mitigation measures into all of their programs.
He stated that the seminar was held in response to a request for partnership and that the Nigerian government and other stakeholders will profit from it.