Nigeria’s Hydrological Stations Below World Standards – NIHSA

• Nigeria’s Hydrological Stations Below World Standards – NIHSA

The existing network density of hydrological stations in Nigeria is far below the recommended standard of the World Meteorological Organisation.

According to the latest report on functional hydrological areas across the country, only one out of the eight hydrological areas meet the recommended minimum network density of the WMO.

Hydrological stations are strategic locations on rivers, lakes, swamps, avalanche etc. that have observation points or posts, which are equipped with the appropriate gauging devices and instruments.

The report, which was recently presented to the governing board of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency and obtained by our correspondent, stated that only the Niger North hydrological area, which has 44 existing network density per HA, met and surpassed the minimum recommendation of the WMO.

The global meteorological body actually recommended 32 network density for the Niger North hydrological area.

The NIHSA revealed that the existing network density per HA in the seven other hydrological areas in the country were below the set standards of the WMO, adding that Nigeria’s entire hydrological network density per HA was 285, as against a total of 482 minimum network density recommended by the WMO.