Abuja — The Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has alerted the aviation sector of poor visibility as a result of changes in weather dust haze arising from changes in the weather condition.

The change has been attributed to lifting of dust particles into the atmosphere around Chad and the Sahara desert regions ushering in the 2009-2010 harmattan season.

This would affect the transport industry especially the aviation sector where passengers may experience flight cancellations, diversions and rescheduling because of the poor visibility of weather change.

According to a media release from NIMET, "the southern part of the country would experience a reduction in humidity due to the southward extension of the influence of the current dust haze. The atmosphere would become slightly drier, less cloudy and a transient halt in rainfall is expected in the coastal areas during the period of the current episode."

NIMET says it has been monitoring the lifting of the dust particles from Chad and the Sahara desert and the Sahel as well as the build-up of surface pressure from these areas since the November 15.

Current influx of the dust is expected to be high in the extreme north-eastern parts of the country affecting cities like the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Yola, Bauchi, Jos, Kaduna and Kano among others.

Economic and other human activities around these regions would also be affected by this change in weather as the country would experience a reduction in air moisture.