27th May, 2015
The Federal Government said on Tuesday that it would continue to encourage the use of the newly improvised alternative and safe cooking stoves to discourage the felling of trees for firewood.
Vice-President Namadi Sambo stated this while inaugurating the newly introduced National Clean Cooking Stove at the Old Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja.
“One of the global problems today is environmental problem and desertification, desert encroachment in Nigeria is one of our major environmental problems and as a result one of the major causes is cutting trees and using wood as a source of energy for cooking.
“And this idea came up to have alternative sources for cooking for our women.
“So, this programme, which Mr President has graciously approved for the initial take-off under the Ministry of Environment at the sum of N9 billion to procure cooking utensils and distribute across the country to our women and by so doing, contributes in stopping the habit of cutting trees for cooking.
“In addition to that, it has the added value of saving women from inhaling the smoke which causes the death of almost 90,000 women annually as a result of the smoke they inhale through cooking.”
According to him, the cooking stove, which is smoke-free, will help in the preservation of health of the environment and improve the standard of living of rural and semi-urban women who relied heavily on the use of firewood for cooking.
Sambo expressed the hope that the stove would reduce mortality rate among rural women.
In her remarks, the Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Malam, disclosed that only N1.5 billion out of the N5 billion approved for the project was released to the ministry for the procurement of the stoves.
She explained that state governments were expected to ensure that forestry departments in all local governments encouraged the use of the new cooking stoves.
Malam hoped that the in-coming administration would embrace the initiative with a view to expanding the project for the good of Nigerians.
The Federal Government had in 2014, approved the sum of N9 billion naira for the supply of 750,000 pieces of the improvised clean cooking stoves to be distributed to rural women at a subsidised rate.