The Director-General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet, Sani Mashi, on Wednesday said the agency is targeting to increase the number of its automated weather stations to 1,000 in the next one year.
Mr Mashi, in an interview in Abuja, said that NiMet currently had less than 100 of such stations across the country.
He added that the agency had only 30 automated stations until it received 47 stations recently from two international agencies as donations.
According to him, the Trans–African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory, TAHMO, donated 37, while West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use, WASCAL, donated 10.
“Initially we received 37 automated weather stations from TAHMO and recently we receive 10 from WASCAL.
“TAHMO is an agency based in Netherlands, it is a profit making agency but with an interest in promoting development of meteorology in Africa.
“Part of its strategies is to assist African countries to get more of automated stations.
“So if you develop the culture of using automated stations they would now bring it to you so that you can buy and through that way we received the donation of 37 weather stations.
“WASCAL have also brought 10 to us to help us in improving the level at which we are collecting and analyzing meteorological data.
“We have received 47 new and prior to that we have only 30 throughout the whole of the country.
“We are targeting to raise the number from less than 100 to about 1,000 in the next one year and it is good to be ambitious and we believe that we can win,’’ he said.
Mr Mashi disclosed that NiMet currently had 54 network of stations, which are different from automated stations, saying that they are still grossly inadequate.
He reiterated that the principal focus of the agency is to increase the density of observation stations across the country in line with World Meteorological Organisation guideline of one automated weather stations per 100 kilometre.
