By Bonaventure Phillips Melah

For the management of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), the past two years and a few months, have been marked by unprecedented achievements while the workers are counting the many bountiful harvests that are outcomes of the initiatives, policies, reforms and schemes which combined to bring them enhanced welfare, skills acquisition and overall wellbeing.

Perhaps, especially for workers, the greatest landmark achievement of the Anosike-led management of NiMet so far, is the recent approval by the federal government, of a new consolidated salary structure and reviewed conditions of service which have continued to attract positive reactions from industry workers and other stakeholders across the country.

The approvals were contained in a letter written by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and addressed to the Chairman, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, stating that the federal government had approved the recommended consolidated salary structure for NiMet with an effective date of June 1, 2026 as well a new Staff Condition of Service for the agency.

Available records show that NiMet’s condition of service was last reviewed 28 years ago. Efforts by past managements of the agency for a review of the all-important document were all muffled by bureaucratic bottlenecks, thereby leaving the taste of ash in the mouth of the workers.

Prof. Charles Anosike was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of NiMet by His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, GCFR, in December 2023. Since then, it has been stories of one milestone achievement to the other. Anosike also served as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the World Meteorogical Organization (WMO).

Some of Anosike’s bold footprints at NiMet in the past two years include infrastructure upgrade which has resulted in installation of high-grade modern machines as well as digitalization of operations on climate and weather forecast, early warning mechanisms and digitalization of the Seasonal Climate Predictions (SCP) presentation and the ICT Unit.

The management has invested impressively on capacity development and professionalism through constant training and retraining of staff to ensure that operations comply with international best practices and at optimal standards.

Within the period under review, NiMet has also become a preferred destination for young men and women, from Nigeria and across West Africa, seeking careers in meteorology related fields. The above is achieved through the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Regional Training Centre, Oshodi Lagos and Meteorological Institute of Science and Technology (MBMIST) located in Katsina State which are both operated by the agency.

Following the massive transformation carried out by NiMet’s management, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), has accredited courses offered at the two institutions which offer National Diploma Certificates while they are being expanded to Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) awarding schools as well as transmute from monotechnic to polytechnics.

As its name implies, the WMO Regional Training Centre admits students from Nigeria and other West African countries. The school is dedicated to enhancing global capacity to observe, understand and predict weather, climate and water-related phenomena while Katsina based MBMIST offers a range of diploma programs in meteorology and climate that are compliant with NBTE, WMO and ISO standards.

Just a few days ago, Prof. Anosike was honoured with the 2026 Educational Excellence Award for his outstanding leadership and several initiatives aimed at advancing education. At the award ceremony which took place Monday, May 11, 2026 at the Faculty of Education, Federal University, Oye- Ekiti. Ekiti state, Anosike was praised for turning meteorological science into learning, training, and capacity that reaches classrooms, universities, and young professionals across the country.

As NiMet CEO, Anosike has led a transformative push to make climate data more actionable, inclusive, and accessible. Currently, early warning systems have been significantly upgraded to provide timely, impact-based forecasts that help mitigate the effects of floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events.

These systems are not only more accurate, they are now reaching farmers, local governments, and disaster managers in real time, often through digital platforms and mobile networks. The management has also championed the use of digital climate advisory services and AI-powered forecasting tools to deliver tailored weather insights, especially to small holder farmers who are among the most vulnerable to climate shocks. By translating forecasts into local languages and formats, NiMet is breaking down long-standing barriers in climate communication and ensuring that no community is left behind.

The above milestones have been made possible by Anosike approach of building partnerships across universities, development agencies, and the private sector to scale sustainable infrastructure, expand weather station networks, and train a new generation of climate scientists.

One of the most recent of the many  strategic partnerships is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) NiMet signed with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on data sharing which took place at the apex bank’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, May 13, 2026.

While NiMet’s team was led by Prof. Anosike, Dr. Mohammed Sani Abdullahi, Deputy Governor, Economic Policy Directorate, was head of CBN’s side.

Speaking at the event, Prof. Charles Anosike highlighted the importance of integrating weather and climate data into economic research, especially in sectors such as agriculture, energy, and transportation. He noted that extreme weather events can reduce agricultural productivity and threaten food security.

He added that the collaboration aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which prioritizes food security through major agricultural investment, including the cultivation of 10 million hectares of land and the distribution of mechanised equipment.

Prof. Anosike cited the World Bank (2026), which reports that extreme weather driven by climate change is significantly affecting global food security, with more than 87 million people facing hunger in East and Southern Africa and 52 million in West and Central Africa. He also referenced the Berkeley Earth Report (2026), which projects that 2026 is likely to be the fourth warmest year on record, a trend that continues to shape agricultural and energy market projections.

In his remarks, Muhammad said the signing of the MoU marked an important step in strengthening the partnership between two key national institutions whose mandates intersect in data, research, and policy support. He emphasized that, in an increasingly complex and dynamic economic environment, timely and reliable data remain essential for effective policy decisions.

He further noted that the Economic Policy Directorate relies heavily on timely and credible statistical information from NiMet. Such data, he said, are critical for inflation monitoring, agricultural sector assessment, and broader economic policy advisory functions. He described the initiative as both timely and important, adding that strong institutional partnerships are essential for strengthening evidence-based policymaking and improving the robustness of national data systems.

Anosike has also been a vocal advocate for integrating climate risk into urban planning and sustainability reporting, pushing institutions and businesses to take a proactive stance on resilience.

Apart from institutional transformation ongoing in NiMet, the management has focused serious attention on workers welfare and overall performance upscale through yearly training programme for all staff; payment of their subsistence benefits; payment of furniture grants; payment of inherited 45 months minimum wage arrears covering 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022; introduction of send-forth honours-gathering for retiring officers; introduction of staff bus services covering major routes including Kuje, Gwagwalada, Mararaba and Kubwa; improved management–staff relations through periodic and sustained engagement and consultation with staff unions and stakeholders; introduction of a seamless pay-slip management system and improved refresher courses for meteorologists and observers. The list is endless.

On the other hand, there is now a burden on NiMet workers and their various labour unions, to recommit themselves to hard work, loyalty and dedication to duty, as a practical show of appreciation to President Bola Tinubu, GCFR, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Management, Barrister Festus Keyamo, SAN and Professor Charles Anosike, their Chief Executive Officer, for the monumental transformations going on in NiMet. As they say, ‘To whom much is given, much more is expected.’

Bonaventure Phillips Melah is an Abuja based journalist and public affairs analyst. bonamelah123@gmail.com 08036062975

By Christian ABURIME

There is a peculiar irony in watching a supposedly learned activist who parades a platform called ‘Hungry and Angry Analytical’ and then proceeds to act tactless and offer analyses that are neither enlightening nor accurate, but only hungry and angry ranting.

Just like other disgruntled elements who take sadistic delight in campaign of calumny, Dr. Chido A. A., the self-styled social media critic and convener of the aforementioned platform, has made a cottage industry out of confrontational attacks on Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo’s administration in Anambra State. His latest salvo, targeting the Governor’s recent visit to London for a diaspora civic town hall meeting, is perhaps his most hollow and irresponsible yet. It is not an innocuous critique. It is political mischief dressed up as civic concern.

Let us be clear about what actually happened. Governor Soludo travelled to London to render an account of his first term in office to Ndi Anambra in the diaspora. This is not a jamboree; it is governance. The Governor did not abandon his job at home. He went to meet his state stakeholders who live and work abroad, who care deeply about the state of their homeland, and who deserve the same access to their elected leader as those at home.

What the Hungry and Angry rabble-rouser and his co-travellers miss, whether by ignorance or by design, is that citizens’ engagement is not a luxury Governor Soludo occasionally indulges. It is his governing philosophy. Long before the ballot box gave him the mandate, and consistently since, Governor Soludo has treated dialogue with the people as crucial to leadership.

His town hall meetings have spanned the United Kingdom, the United States, Abuja, and Lagos. Closer to home in Anambra, he has sat with traders, transporters, community leaders, and ordinary stakeholders, not for a show-off, but because he understands that responsive government requires that the governed be heard. These interactions, however quiet and unglamorous, are among the surest foundations of transparent governance.

Our Hungry and Angry analyst is of course free to criticise. Vigorous debate about governance is healthy, even necessary. But criticism that misrepresents the facts, that frames accountability as indulgence and civic duty as dereliction, does not serve Anambra people. It serves only the critic’s profile. When a platform built on anger mistakes disruption for analysis and provocation for insight, it forfeits the moral authority to hold anyone else to account. Ultimately, Ndi Anambra, at home and abroad, know the difference between a leader who shows up and a commentator who always rants.

There are moments in the life of a nation when words feel insufficient, when language strains under the weight of loss. This is one of those moments.

Nine days ago, in a piece titled The Ink Bleeds Again, I warned that the cost of documenting power in Nigeria was becoming unbearably high. I wrote then with anxious hope, praying that those in critical condition would recover, and that our familiar tragedy would not claim another name. That warning was not rhetorical. It was a plea.

Today, that plea echoes back as lament.
The death of Kani Ben, a cameraman with Channels Television, is not merely another headline in our weary catalogue of national grief. It is the grim confirmation that the ink I spoke of has indeed bled into loss.

It is a stark reminder that in Nigeria, even those who document history are not safe from becoming its casualties.
Kani was not a man of loud opinions. He spoke through images. Through his lens, we witnessed ribbon cuttings, policy launches, and declarations of progress.

He framed optimism carefully, capturing the theatre of governance as it unfolded across the North East. Yet behind the steady hand that held the camera was a professional navigating the perilous reality of our roads, our logistics, and our indifference to safety.

For years, I have observed a troubling pattern. The press is summoned to bear witness to achievement, but little thought is given to the cost of that summons.

Journalists and crew members are too often treated as incidental, necessary for publicity, yet invisible in planning. Transport is improvised. Safety protocols are assumed rather than assured.

Risk is normalised.
We must confront an uncomfortable truth, that this culture persists because we have allowed it to persist.

When I wrote The Ink Bleeds Again, I hoped it would serve as a mirror—an urgent reflection that might provoke change before grief became irreversible. Instead, it now reads like a preface to this mourning.
A news story is never worth a life. No commissioning ceremony, no speech, no carefully choreographed display of development justifies a journey undertaken without adequate protection.

When institutions—whether governmental or corporate—invite journalists into their orbit, they assume a duty of care. That duty cannot be rhetorical. It must be practical, structured, and enforceable.

The loss of Kani Ben should force us to reconsider what we mean by professionalism. Professionalism is not merely punctual attendance and technical excellence; it is the creation of conditions in which professionals can perform their duties without unreasonable danger.

If we truly value the media as a pillar of democracy, then safeguarding its practitioners must become non-negotiable.
There is also an introspection required within our own ranks.

We have, at times, internalised the hazards of the job as though they were badges of honour. We speak casually of dangerous assignments, unreliable transport, and impossible deadlines. We pride ourselves on resilience. But resilience should not mean resignation.

The silence that follows a death such as this is often filled with condolences and promises. Yet silence can also signal complicity if it is not followed by reform. We must demand clear safety standards for press engagements.

We must insist on accountability when those standards are ignored. And we must cultivate a professional culture that empowers journalists to refuse unsafe conditions without fear of reprisal.

Kani Ben devoted his career to ensuring that others were seen and heard. In his passing, we must ensure that he is neither reduced to a fleeting tribute nor absorbed into routine tragedy. His death is not only a loss; it is the fulfilment of a warning we should have heeded.

The camera has fallen silent. The frame is empty. What remains is our responsibility.
If we do not act—collectively and decisively—the ink will bleed again. And next time, we may once more pretend we were not warned.

~Shu’aibu Usman Leman is a former National Secretary of Nigeria Union of Journalists-NUJ~

… AUF…
(Sunday 15/02/2026)
#Opinion.