Nigerian Flight Deck Travel and Business Reportage
NIGERIAN Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has procured and installed 10 NiMet-Earth network lightening detecting and Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) stations in Abuja, Lagos, Benin, Sokoto, Kano, Maiduguri, Ilorin, Yola, Enugu and Port Harcourt airports.
This is as it has equally procured and installed seven automatic message dissemination platforms at Abuja, Kano, Lagos, Maiduguri, Kaduna, Enugu and Port Harcourt airports and would procuring more for Sokoto and Katsina airports in the coming months.
Director-General, NiMET, Prof. Mansur Matazu made these known at the weekend during maiden edition of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) National Aviation Conference (FNAC) held in Abuja in his paper, ‘Enhancing Aviation Safety For Sustainable Development: The Role of NiMET’.
Matazu explained that the AWOS is a fully configured airport weather system that provides continuous, real time information and reports on airport weather conditions.
He said, “Prevention of weather occurrences is beyond human’s technological thrust. It took scientists and industry experts a great deal of effort over many years to understand the complexity of many weather phenomenons like wind-shear and others. Early warning and detection mechanisms have proven to be the only dependable solution to the hazards of weather and climate.
“In NiMet we work round the clock to provide continuous weather information. These weather information are perishable and must be consumed at the right time. We therefore encourage all our stakeholders, especially pilots and the flying crews to take advantage of our products and services and ensure safety of lives and property at our airports and en-route destinations.”
Matazu also said that NiMET also has upper air stations at Abuja, Enugu, Lagos, Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Calabar and Yola and equally has six radar stations in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Yola, Maiduguri, Kano and Lagos airports.
He also appealed to stakeholders in every spheres of the economy, especially aviation to take advantage of the agency’s mobile app and website for regular information on seasonal climate predictions, maintaining that this would go a long way to save unnecessary losses.
He explained that NiMet had moved from just generating forecasts to producing forecasts with implications.
“Our clients and stakeholders are not only foretold but also forewarned of likely impacts of the predicted weather and climate events.
“In aviation, weather and climate information provides a safe and safe way of executing our activities in order to minimise risks, save lives and avert losses,” he added.
