Govt commercialises NIMET’s operations, set to raise IGR

TO strengthen its capacity to increase internally generated revenue and become independent of government, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NIMET), has been placed on self-funding status.

Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, made the disclosure when he commissioned the NIMET Information and Communication Technology, (ICT) centre and Scientific and Technical Information Library, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on Monday, in Abuja.

Chidoka said: “This is to strengthen their capacity to increase Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, eventually become independent of government funding within the next three years and scale up the contribution of aviation to GDP from the present 0.6 per cent to at least 5%.”

The minister urged the management of NIMET to use the resources at its disposal like the upgrade of its operations to the realm of automation to foster the commercialization process.

“It is therefore my expectation that NIMET will deploy the resources at their ICT Centre, as well as other facilities we have seen today in achieving this objective, particularly in driving the commercialisation initiative, which I am aware the agency has already started,” he added.

The minister was confident that “the facilities put in place in these projects will no doubt support the agency’s activities in carrying out its mandate of monitoring weather, climate and providing early warning information, not only for aviation, but also for other sectors of the economy.”

Director General/CEO, NIMET, Dr. Anthony Anuforom, noted that apart from the agency embarking on expanding their revenue base so as to reduce dependency on government funding and contribute to the national GDP and intensify manpower development and capacity building, adding that it upgraded its operations to automation process in compliance with internationally accepted standards.

Anuforom said NIMET is committed to improving the timeliness of delivering weather forecast to its customers is in conformity to the framework of the Aviation Commits initiative, (ACI).