By Muhammad Amaan with agency reports
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said Nigeria and other countries of should brace up as there will be more extreme weather and climate conditions in 2024, despite the extreme heat, flooding and drought, among others that is presently making life unbearable for many.
This was stated by Bernard Gomez, the World Meteorological Organisation Representative for North, Central, and West Africa during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
According to him this is due to global warming occasioned by Greenhouse gases.
He said, “We are expecting more shocks in 2024. 2023 was the hottest year since records began in the world, and that has been the trend for the past 10 years.
“In fact, 2023 was just capping what was there in 2022, 2021 and since 2015. We have seen a significant increase in warming, and that just keeps increasing.
“I have been in Nigeria for the past 10 years, specifically in Abuja. I have never experienced the heat that I am experiencing this year.”
According to Gomez, the North, Central, and West African communities would need more commitment to generate more observations to predict what would happen.
He noted that the region’s forecasters should be supported and trained to bring out good and accurate forecasts for action implementation to save lives and livelihoods.
Gomez added, “That is extremely important, and, of course, we are not alone in this. The rest of the world is grappling with climate change and extreme weather events, and we are also learning from others.
“We learn and implement according to our environment. For instance, we are lucky that we are not in the tropical cyclone belt, where you have hurricanes and other things. Notwithstanding, we also have issues like floods and heat waves, which are very common in this part of the world.”
While calling on policymakers to show political will toward addressing climate change, he lamented that humanity met a well-balanced planet, but industrialisation, pollution, and other human interferences are causing shocks and vulnerabilities.
