According to research by a non governmental organization, International Centre for Energy Environment and Development (ICEED), Nigeria faces with silent energy crisis that resulted to only one in ten households in the country use clean energy sources and technologies for cooking.
With the lack of awareness to use clean energy sources to cook, traditional cooking with firewood and other polluting fuels such like kerosene and charcoal are claiming lives, destroying the environment causes deforestation and contributes to the effect of climate change and putting a burden on woman.
In expanding access to clean cooking in Nigeria, ICEED has organised a workshop for journalists in order to explore opportunities for engaging the Media in the clean cooking sector and to expand creation of awareness to the grassroots on the importance use of clean energy sources to cook.
Speaking with the Research and Partnership Manager of the organization, Precious Onuvae explained that the gesture is to ensure that only quality stoves are found in the market to promote the health of the women to save lives and combats climate change. As according to her, laboratory has been established to yes for quality.
“We want to ensure that only quality stoves are actually found in the market to promote the health of the women to save lives and at the same time combats climate change so that laboratory has been established to test for quality.
And we have been strengthening our partnership with key stakeholders we have a very strong partnership with the federal ministry of environment who is actually leading the course of cleaning cooking in the country”.
“We have a good partnership with the ministry of health, the standard organisation of Nigeria, the energy commission of Nigeria and energy transition office.
We have been able to build a strong collaboration and today we are trying to build our collaboration with the media so that access to clean cooking will be improved”.
“We are working on developing our strategic plan for the next two years and we want to put a slot for the media as know are professionals and they help in sensitizing in raising awareness they will play a key row in what they do and that is why we are here to ensure that the Media is carried along. We are here to get input from the media on what we need to add to the strategic action plan so that they will be a clue for the media specific target for the media in the next two years as far as clean cooking is concerned in the country”. She explained
On his part, the representative of Energy Commission of Nigeria, Ahmed Tijani noted that the commission is part of the collaborative effort to deliver the message to the people that there is an alternative of cleaner cooking methods which according to him should be embraced and be adopted.
On the reduction of price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Tijani explained that the federal government has set up a committee to bring down the prices which he assured that the outcome will soon be out, as he expressed optimism that the price will dastically reduce.
“The workshop as you have seen is a collaborative workshop for improving media participation in advocating for clean cooking in Nigeria”.
“So the reason for the workshop as it was started by the organisers is that there is need for the media to amplify the message to the people of Nigeria that the current ways where using for cooking especially in our rural areas is harmful to the environment and even to the health of the people that are cooking especially our mothers and their children that are attached to them”.
“The figures has been given concerning the number of deaths recorded from inhaling of smoke from the traditional trees and stones that are mostly used.
So for us in energy commission of Nigeria because of our mandate to plan and coordinate policies in the energy sector we are part of Nigeria allies in clean cooking because clean cooking is one of the five pillars energy transition plan of the federal government which is supposed to end all these type of dirty cooking by the year 2060.
So the energy commission of Nigeria is part of this collaborative effort to deliver the message to people that when there is an alternative of cleaner cooking methods people should please embarrassed it and adopt it”.
“The LPG option even though we are advocating for it but for now is a bit expensive even for the regular users some of them are dropping them and going back to the traditional methods because of the cost but as we are all out where the federal government is making efforts to bring down the cost of the LPG.
Apart from LPG there are also other alternative especially the improve cookstove that is biomass stufss they use less amount of firewood or charcoal to cook the same quantity of food that requires a larger amount of firewood when use in the traditional way.
So we are also promoting this improve cookstove some of them are locally manufactured why some are imported so as a country we are promoting the local manufacturing of those stoves so that they can be affordable to the people.
And we are calling of the media to be part of it and push the narrative to the people and also amplify the message.
The federal government has set up a committee to bring down the prices of LPG and I believe they are doing their work and very soon we will hear the outcome of their work the prices of LPG will drastically come down”. He noted.
