August 18, (THEWILL) – Earth Networks, a global provider of weather intelligence, announced on Wednesday it formed a partnership with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet).
The agreement includes a five-year collaboration to build the Nigeria Total Lightning and Mesoscale AWS Network (NTLMAN) for early warning of severe weather.
The partnership was commemorated during a live virtual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony from Abuja and Germantown, Maryland.
Under the agreement, Earth Networks and NiMet will deploy and operate a comprehensive early warning lightning detection network in Nigeria and jointly co-market new sources of weather and lightning data to public and private industries in Nigeria.
Precision weather stations and lightning sensors will be hosted at NiMet locations and maintained by NiMet staff.
In addition to the network equipment, Earth Networks will also provide training and development for NiMet staff regarding use of comprehensive weather data, including real-time and historical lightning data, weather observations, sensor forecasts and live storm-tracking and alerting.
This new agreement with NiMet supports Earth Networks’ commitment to build sustainable public-private weather information services partnerships with countries around the globe. Government agencies and private enterprises in Nigeria alike will now have access to a complete suite of visualisation, forecasting, storm identification, alerting, and tracking services, developed and offered jointly by NiMet and Earth Networks.
This cooperation means any industry affected by weather in Nigeria, including aviation, oil and gas, mining, and manufacturing, can now take advantage of the most technologically advanced severe weather alerts and data to promote safety and ease operational challenges caused by weather.
Jim Anderson, Vice President of Global Sales at Advanced Environmental Monitoring, Earth Networks’ parent company, said:
“We’ve been working in more than 25 countries in Africa since 2013 to save lives and protect property with high-resolution weather and lightning data.
“We are excited to partner with NiMet to help accelerate the expansion of their high impact weather forecasting capacity and bring new weather warning services to enterprise customers in Nigeria.”
In his remarks at the virtual MOU signing ceremony, U.S. Embassy Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer, Adam Jagelski, said the partnership between Earth Networks and NiMet will help expand Nigeria’s capacity to accurately provide critical weather forecasting information and climate services, supporting Nigeria’s economic development by protecting the lives and property that are critical to several key sectors.
He opined: “The signing of this MOU is exemplary of the mutually beneficial partnership model U.S. businesses can employ to engage the Nigerian market.
“I am thrilled to see Earth Networks using the partnership model to bring the expertise of one of America’s truly innovative companies to the strategic infrastructure sector in Nigeria. We hope to see more of America’s premier companies developing partnerships as a means to bring their best-in-class products and services to Nigeria and the whole of Africa.”
Earth Networks, a member of the Advanced Environmental Monitoring (AEM) family of innovators, has developed partnerships in many countries over the past several years to bring weather observation, forecasting, and alerting technologies that are both low-cost and easy to deploy and maintain.
The company is committed to enabling the best weather and lightning observation networks, visualisation tools, and early warning alerting technologies to the world. Schools, airports, sports teams, utilities, and government agencies rely on their early warning solutions to safeguard lives, prepare for weather events, and optimise operations.
About the Author
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
