By Dele Ogbodo As Nigerians await the unveiling of the 2020 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP), tomorrow (Tuesday) by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) the CEO of the agency, Prof. Sani Abubakar Mashi, has said it’s 2019 prediction has indeed came to pass. Briefing journalists from across all media platforms in his office over the weekend in Abuja, the DG/CEO, said: “You will recall that last year when we made the SRP, we made appropriate prediction particularly concerning the onset and the early cessation in the period of the rain and in support of this type of prediction that we made particularly gave the early warning signals to Nigerians.” He said it is unfortunate that some Nigerians did not take the forecast serious, stressing that the impact of the prediction particularly on flooding was felt in all the places and regions it was predicted to occur. He said: “What we are simply saying is that we made prediction and it came to pass. “We therefore appeal that whenever we made predictions, Nigerians should always take them very serious.” He explained that the 157 meteorological stations established at different times in different places are generally working well. In every institution, that we are partnering with, he said: “we entered into MoUs with these institutions, spell out the obligations of each stakeholder.” For instance, he said the institution provides security, power and institutional capacity for their management, while NIMET provides technical support, managerial support and also the repairs and fixing of any equipment that is malfunctioning. Mashi, said: “We would appreciate that the students of these institutions make adequate use of these equipment because everyone today needs the knowledge of meteorology because weather affects everybody and every profession.” In addition to the WMO RTC NiMet is operating a New National Meteorological Training Institute in Katsina, where the agency shall be training Nigerians in Meteorology at OND and HND levels as NBTE has already granted provisional approval with the resumption of the first batch of students in September 2020.