The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Charles Anosike, has inaugurated the NiMet Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research and Integration Team as part of the agency’s ongoing drive to strengthen innovation, digital transformation and service delivery in meteorological and climate services.
The inauguration highlights NiMet’s commitment to complementing decades of physics-based weather forecasting with emerging AI-driven approaches, in line with the Federal Government’s digital transformation agenda and the continued modernization of meteorological services in Nigeria.
The newly constituted technical team is mandated to identify opportunities, standards and best practices for the application of artificial intelligence in meteorology.
It will also lead to the integration of AI-based tools into NiMet’s operational forecasting systems, with the aim of improving the speed, accuracy, and accessibility of weather and climate predictions through hybrid AI-traditional forecasting models.
Speaking at the inauguration, Prof. Anosike stressed that building internal AI capacity is essential for sustaining NiMet’s leadership in technological innovation among government agencies.
He noted that responsible deployment of emerging technologies would further enhance NiMet’s ability to support critical sectors such as aviation safety, agriculture, disaster risk reduction and overall national development.
According to him, the agency’s embrace of artificial intelligence reflects a forward-looking strategy to strengthen evidence-based decision-making and improve the quality of meteorological information available to government, businesses and the general public.
Members of the AI Research and Integration Team were drawn from various units across the agency, underscoring NiMet’s multidisciplinary approach to innovation and research.
The initiative marks another milestone in NiMet’s efforts to leverage digital technologies and research-driven solutions to deliver world-class meteorological services in Nigeria.
