The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has spent N400 million to acquire new radar components for the Doppler weather radar system.
The director general of the agency, Prof. Sani Mashi who stated this in an interview in Lagos said that with the installation of components, the agency intends to ensure 80 per cent total coverage of the country by June this year.
He explained that when the entire project was awarded in 2007, it cost the federal government about N2.7 billion while the installation of the components would have cost N100 million.
However, he said the amount had increased to N400 million by 2019.
He said NiMet was able to access a special allocation from the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) fund.
“When the contract was designed in 2007, there was a design problem. The radar was supposed to be mounted on top of a tower.
“At Kano and Lagos locations, there were towers that were erected in 1974. So, the contract was designed in such a way that rather than constructing a new tower, those old towers of 1974 would be used so as to save more money. That was how the project was under-designed.
“So, when I took over, I discovered the project got stalled. The contractors inspected the towers and came back with a report that the towers were so weak and they can’t hoist anything because of the heavy load. The weight of the tower is about 12 tonnes. So, they said it had to be because it was not part of the original contract, they said there was nothing they could do,” Mashi said.
The director general said the components were delivered last week and ferried to their different locations for installation.
“So, the components…are in Ikeja (Lagos) and Kano. We are going to erect them. Already they have delivered the towers in these two locations. So, as soon as we finish the installation, which will just take about two months, the Americans who were doing the contract will now come and mount the radar on top,” he added.
He added that NiMet had earlier installed same equipment in Port Harcourt and Abuja.
