Creation of Climate Change Agency Waste of Resources Says NiMET DG
The Director General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Sani Abubakar Mashi has condemned the calls for the creation of a separate and parallel Climate Change Agency (CCA), saying the establishing such body would amount to waste of resources and a duplication of functions already being carried out by an existing agency, NiMet.
Mashi said NiMet was established by an Act of Parliament in 2003 to provide weather services in marine, environmental and bio-meteorology for climatic and human health activities. He said that so far, all stakeholders are unanimous in their agreement that it has been carrying out this role both effectively and efficiently; therefore, there should be no reason for the creation of a new body with similar functions.
Mashi made this known while fielding questions from newsmen in Lagos. He remarked that at a time when there is widespread clamour for limited government and scaling down of the bureaucracy, creating another body with essentially the same roles as NiMet would not only be counter-productive but also a waste of scarce resources during the period of an economic recession.
“Since its inception in 2003 NiMet has played, and continues to play crucial, critical and strategic roles in fulfillment of its mandate, including the issue of Climate Change hence the major authoritative voice on climate issues in Nigeria as recognized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a technical and specialised agency of the United Nations (UN).
“Furthermore, NiMet is the repository of the national archive of climate data in Nigeria. The climate data bank has data spanning over a century from over 60 synoptic stations spread across the nation. There are no meaningful climate studies or policy developments that can be conducted without credible climate data. This climate data can only be found in NiMet. NiMet also has the largest concentration of climatologists in the country and these resources are always used to produce the scientific basis for climate change in Nigeria”, Mashi said.
Furthermore, he said instead of creating a parallel agency, NiMet should be reorganised and strengthened to enhance the discharge of its responsibilities through the amendment of the enabling Act and identified areas that require amendment to include, but not limited to the elevation of Climate Services to a Directorate of Climate Services status to “better handle issues relating to climate and climate change”.
“It is rather surprising that at a time when the country is experiencing an economic recession and is literally fighting the battle of its life, people are proposing the creation of a parallel agency that will merely duplicate the functions of an existing body. Even at the best of times when resources do not pose any significant bottleneck, such obvious duplication is counterproductive and may lead to conflict of interest and unnecessary rivalry”, the DG added. He however said that the plan to create the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) is a welcome development, adding that the Council should be saddled with the responsibility to “supervise NiMet”. He picked holes on other provisions in the proposed bill currently before the National Assembly for failing to include the DG/CEO of NiMet, the nation’s sole repository of climate data in the said Council.