As NIMET DG Marks One Year in Office

Chinedu Eze

The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Professor Charles Anosike, has clocked one year managing the weather agency that provides critical information to many sectors of the economy.

Anosike exemplifies William Shakespeare’s famous words, ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’, going by what the records attribute to him as achievements in the last one year.

Anosike spent his end of first year in office on Monday, 16th December 2024; that was the day he had a strategic and performance review meeting with Directors of the agency, members of senior management and representatives of the labour unions. 

Directors of the nine directors took turns in presenting the progress in their various directorates. The office of the Director General also presented a summary of what has been achieved in the agency under Professor Charles Anosike. 

Speaking at the meeting, Anosike thanked the management team, the directors and staff for their understanding and also for supporting him as he continues to the execute mandate of the agency. 

“I want to highlight the importance of collective bargaining with the unions. I want to assure you that I am   committed to driving the mission of our agency,” Anosike said.

It was a torpid relationship NIMET had with the unions before Anosike came. He solved a long outstanding labour dispute and as he marked his one year in office on Monday, he noted, “Failing is not a problem. It is from failing that we learn. Failure and success go together. Collectively, we would do more in the coming years”. 

During the period under review, NIMET organised a training session for the Directors and senior management staff of the agency. Because of the sensitive nature of weather forecast, training is very critical, especially in a sector, where advanced technology quickly makes yesterday skills obsolete.

So, training has been a continuum in NIMET for different categories of personnel. the training for directors and senior management staff was carried out in collaboration with management consulting firm Balanced Scorecard West Africa and was themed; ‘Balanced Scorecard Performance Management System’.

Declaring the session open, Anosike said that management has prioritised staff welfare and capacity development as part of performance management in line with the seven-point agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and also in line with the performance bond signed with the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo and agencies in the Aviation Ministry which emphasisedthe development of human capacity within the aviation industry. 

Anosike said: “We are starting a new journey at NiMetas we prepare to roll out a balanced scorecard performance management system. It is one of the global management tools that organizations use to translate strategy into performance. This workshop will help us to improve our strategy formulation, our ability to formulate strategies, and make way for enduring creativity in the agency.”

He said that the balanced scorecard performance management system enables organisations to communicate strategy clearly to all stakeholders.

“Value-creation activities in organizations are no longer strictly measured in the tangible things and fixed assets of the firm etc. Instead, value lies in the ideas of people in the organization, in service delivery and supplier relationships, in key information databases, and in cultures capable of innovation and continually delivering quality. We can come together at NiMet to solve our problems and create value in never-imagined ways.

“I urge every one of us at NiMet, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to embrace performance management as a foundation for improving performance. Strategy dictates the path forward. It is not the change effort itself that is likely to cause the failure. It is always the execution and development, the implementation, execution and development,” he added.

When Anosike assumed office at this time last year, he in his remarks emphasised the critical role of meteorological services in driving sustainable development for the nation. 

Anosike highlighted the multifaceted impact of NiMet’s contributions, emphasising how the agency’s services play an integral role in various sectors of the economy and further stressed that weather services impact various sectors of life and NiMet’s essential contribution to the nation’s sustainable development position the agency as a key player in providing crucial services across diverse sectors and expressed his determination to elevate NiMet’s performance to a world-class standard.

With a clear vision for excellence, Anosike declared his dedication to implementing strategic initiatives leveraging the commitment and support of the staff to ensure NiMet continues to be a beacon of precision and reliability in meteorological services.

Reviewing the performance of Anosike, NIMET’s Director of Human Resources, Dr. Nasiru Sani, appraised the Director General and said that since he was appointed he has galvanized all sectors of the agency.

He said, “A lot is going on at NiMet at the moment. Across all the Directorates, not just in the area of capacity building. Shortly after the appointment of the Director General and Chief Executive Officer, also Nigeria’s Permanent Representative with World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Prof. Charles Anosike, he organized a management retreat for the newly appointed Directors and other senior management staff. That workshop was quite enlightening.

“We discussed vision and goal alignment. It was drilled down to the various directorates how what we do at NiMet must always align to what the Tinubu government is trying to achieve, linking it with the Aviation sector roadmap of Festus Keyamo,theMinister of Aviation and Aerospace Development.”

Nasiru further said that Anosike and NIMET management team prioritised capacity development, and are working so hard at the same time to reposition the agency, adding that so many initiatives are ongoing in the agency, “but specifically looking at the HR Directorate that I head, in the first quarter of 2024, the agency has spent over N140 million on training of over 100 staff members.”

“In May senior staff embarked on another round of training focusing on leadership and performance management, while junior level staff were trained in ethics and performance management.

“Capacity development has become a culture under the new management. The staff say that this is unprecedented and we are seeing the effects already. Staff morale and motivation are higher. Productivity has increased in line with the federal government’s performance management metrics. We are strictly tasked to ensure accurate reporting of weather and climate information. There are new tools, software and ways of analysing weather patterns. Through training, staff members are able to adopt these new methods and perform their roles effectively and efficiently,” he said.