How Nigeria Could Be Affected by ‘Super El Niño`

Although I'm not a scientist or geographer, I take the possibility of El Niño over the next 6-9 months very seriously, because extreme heat or cold can affect people's daily lives and agriculture. A few days ago, I came across a Facebook post about scientists warning that this year's El Niño could become stronger than in other years.

For my country, Nigeria, which is known for extremely hot weather and cold weather in some parts of Nigeria, the concern should be the unusual weather patterns which is unusual. In Nigeria, there are some regions that could experience heavy rainfall, flooding, or drier and hotter weather conditions. These changes affect farming activities, where farmers suffer the most, leaving other activities to depend heavily on weather prediction.

Food prices are another concern. If crops are damaged by extreme weather, farmers lose a lot, and whatever is left for farmers to supply would become so expensive for people to buy. Last month, I heard that international organisations are seriously warning Nigerians that a strong El Niño could create significant risks for livelihoods and food security in the country, especially in vulnerable communities.

If it were left to me, I would not wait until the weather becomes serious before preparing myself. I and my family would take some simple precautions, such as keeping enough drinking water and food, and saving all important documents in the cloud to have alternative options in case flooding occurs.

NiMet weather and climate updates would be my second choice of information that I will rely on rather than relying on social media, where people would just be posting what they feel for views. The reason why I would rely on NiMet for updates is that it has already reported on the development of a strong El Niño, which is also monitoring the implications for my country, Nigeria.

In conclusion, there are things about climate that we cannot control; by preparing ourselves early to reduce the impact, should what would happen eventually happen, we will not feel the impact that much.