Nigeria: Alliance to Deliver 10 Million Clean Cook Stoves to Nigerians By 2020 | Source: Daily Trust, May 2, 2013 |
The Nigerian Alliance for Clean CookStoves has promised to deliver 10 million stoves to Nigerian homes by 2020 as part of efforts to halt the rising mortality associated with the use of fire wood.
Mr Ewah Eleri, Coordinator, Nigerian Alliance for Clean CookStoves said that the need for the clean stove had become urgent as Nigeria account for 100,000 deaths annually out of the 2million death recorded globally.
“In Nigeria, available statistics shows that over 20 million people use fire wood and this account for 11 per cent of families food expenditure and result in the loss of 3 per cent of the nation’s forest reserve,” he said at a stakeholders meeting on the validation of the clean stove project.
He said that the alliance had entered into strategic partnership with various institutions including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and the Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic for the fabrication and standardisation of the stoves.
He said that it was unfortunate that Nigeria being one of the biggest exporter of cooking gas has no provision for domestic use as only 150 tonnes was utilised out of the 4 million tonnes per annual.
“Under the clean cookStoves programme we are expanding the programme to include access to cooking gas for more Nigerians,” he added.
Speaking earlier, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Senate Committee Chairman on Environment and Ecology said that indoor air pollution, black carbon emission, tree felling were tradeoffs of traditional cooking methods.
“In Nigeria, household air pollution is the third most significant risk factor in health, killing almost 70,000 people per year,” he added.
He said that the development of the clean cookStove in the country has become a matter of urgency and not a subject of debate.
He also attributed the use of traditional cook stove to deforestation in the country adding that, “as the country with the second most severe rate of deforestation globally and one of the highest rates of fuel wood use, the introduction of clean cookStove at this point in time will have a multifaceted impacts on the standard of living of Nigerians.”
