By LAWANI MIKAIRU& DANIEL ETEGHE
Pilots and  airline operators in Nigeria have been asked to be conscious of the dangerous thunderstorms that would take place between May / June and October in Nigeria. Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency  (NIMET), Dr. Anthony Anoforum gave this warning while speaking on the weather forecast for 2012.

He explained that the thunderstorms which would begin in March would climax in June with another occurring in October this year for Lagos area while Abuja would also experience it.

“Our airlines should be cautious during this period. They need to be very careful because this is the time associated with thunderstorms. This is the time that very dangerous clouds come up and make flight dangerous,” he said.

The NIMET boss further noted that there may not likely be the unusual cases of rainfall in Lagos and Ibadan like that of last year but warned Nigerians to always give heed to weather forecasts in the disposal of waste, so as not to block drainages and construction of unapproved structures.

On the transformation of NIMET, Anoforum noted that in the past four years, a lot of positive changes have taken place, ranging from upgrading operational equipment to improve what was on ground.

“I must say that the transformation has been tremendous, we have some key projects like the national weather centre which has given NIMET a very amiable identity.”

According to  Anoforum, ageing workforce and finance have remained the challenges facing the agency which he said remained a source of worry to them because to train anyone on the job will take a lot of time.

“We have that problem of ageing workforce and ours is not a general duty type of job, it is a job that requires specialised training and requires a lot of experience for the job to be properly done and many of these people are retiring.”

The NIMET boss, however, expressed optimism that with the Aviation minister’s sector road map, the sector will be transformed soon when implemented.