Tunde Bakare
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof. Hakeem Babatunde Fawehinmi, led the University’s management team on a courtesy visit to the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Prof. Charles Anosike, to deepen collaboration on the Smart Climate Project.
Prof. Fawehinmi said the visit, undertaken on behalf of the Governing Council of the University of Abuja, now Yakubu Gowon University, under the leadership of Distinguished Senator Dr. Olanrewaju Tejuoso, was aimed at advancing discussions on the Smart Climate Project and other areas of mutual interest.
Key areas discussed included joint research, remote sensors, GIS tools, weather stations, climate data use, academic-industry linkage, and knowledge exchange.
In his welcome remarks, Prof. Anosike congratulated Prof. Fawehinmi on his appointment as substantive Vice-Chancellor and emphasized the importance of closer institutional ties. He described the University as NiMet’s closest academic partner. He noted that more than 60% of NiMet interns come from the University and recalled NiMet’s previous support for the development of its weather station.
Prof. Anosike urged universities to maintain NiMet-supported weather stations to keep them functional for teaching, research, and climate services. He also pledged to establish a new weather station at the University.
Both institutions agreed on the need to make climate information more accessible, practical, and useful to students, researchers, farmers, planners, and communities through the Smart Climate Project. A joint technical team from NiMet and the University of Abuja was constituted to define collaboration priorities and guide implementation.