NiMet partners MTN, other on development of digital climate advisory services

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nigeria’s leading telecommunication services provider MTN, and advanced weather intelligence company, Tomorrow.io, to develop a Digital Climate Advisory Services (DCAS) System aimed at delivering location-specific, actionable weather advisories to Nigerian farmers via mobile SMS.

The partnership, which is in line with the United Nations (UN) goal of ensuring early warning systems for all, will serve the need of strengthening climate resilience in Nigeria, particularly in the agricultural sector.

Speaking at the MoU signing at NiMet Headquarters in Abuja, Charles Anosike, Professor and Director General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), said that the overall aim of the partnership was to improve agricultural productivity and resilience by providing localised, timely weather advisories.

“This aligns with the food security agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government”, he said.

Anosike said that the choice of MTN and Tomorrow.io was strategic as they are leaders in their respective sectors.

“I am excited welcoming the MTN CEO, Karl Toriola, officials and the Tomorrow.io team to NiMet for this groundbreaking MoU signing that will impact not only the agricultural sector but the entire Nigerian economy.

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“My primary objective has been to open up the space of the business of climate science to the private sector so that they will begin to understand the incredible impact of climate science”, he concluded.

Responding, Karl Toriola, Chief Executive Officer of MTN, said that MTN always looks for ways to support Government Agencies and the Nigerian public in general. “I am optimistic about what this partnership with NiMet and Tomorrow.io will do for the agricultural sector, emergency and disaster management, the public and the Nigerian economy as a whole. From the bottom of our hearts we are grateful to NiMet for allowing MTN to partner with it”.

Henry Onyemachi, Managing Director of Tomorrow.io, thanked the DG/CEO of NiMet, for his strong leadership directing the process leading to the signing of the MoU.

“For us at Tomorrow.io, it’s a very happy moment for us reflecting on the progressive and very focused journey which began a year ago. This is a very impactful project that we are embarking on which touches on the food security that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been harping on”, he said.

Under the terms of the MoU, the parties shall collaborate in the development, deployment, and testing of the DCAS platform, which will provide weather-based advisories to farmers through SMS notifications.