The West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) is a German initiative and will be funded [for the first five (5) years] by the German Ministry of Science and Education (BMBF). The WASCAL Program is novel in concept and international in scope. One of the major aims of WASCAL is the establishment of Graduate Research Programs (GRPs) in about six (6) foremost Universities across West Africa. The Federal University of Technology, Akure, was selected as the Lead University for the Graduate Research Program (GRP) on the West African Climate System. The program is for the training of Ph. D students only in all aspects of the West African Climate System. The other GRPs are in specific fields, e.g. GRP in Climate Change and Water; Climate Change and Land Use, Climate Change and Economic systems, etc.

The FUTA Ph. D GRP in the West Africa Climate System will admit, in the first year (September 2011), only ten (10) students. There will be a maximum of 30 students at full growth in the 3rd year. Admission is limited to only one (1) student per each country of the West African WASCAL family: Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Mali, Burkina Faso and Germany. There is an International Advisory Committee, comprising eminent scientists from six (6) WASCAL countries as listed below and the GRP Director as Secretary, which will ensure international standards for the GRP:

Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann	Augsburg University, Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Germany
Dr. Seydou Traore	AGRHYMET, Niamey, Niger
Prof. Amadou Thiemo Gaye	Univesite Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar (UCAD), Senegal
Prof. Abel A. Afouda	Universite d’Abomey-Calavi, Benin Republic
Prof. Sylvester K. Danour	Kwame Nkrumah Univ. of Science & Tech. (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
Dr. Made Fode	University Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger
Director, WASCAL GRP(Secretary)	WASCAL GRP, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Nigeria.