by @admin | Mar 8, 2022 | Uncategorized
COOKING SHOULDN’T KILL: LET US PRESS FOR GENDER EQUALITY TODAY FOR A SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW International Women’s Day, usually celebrated on March 8, is a day when we celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women all over the world. The theme for 2022 International Women’s Day is “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow” – a push for gender equality worldwide for a sustainable future. The Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cooking joins with many to press for progress in gender equality especially when it comes to the unpaid work and task associated with cooking. Nigeria suffers a “silent” energy crisis – poor access to clean cooking energy. Over 20 million households and about 120 million Nigerians depend on wood primarily as a source of fuel for cooking. It is recognized that women disproportionately make up this number. This is despite the abundance of modern cooking energy sources including natural gas. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that cooking in an open fire releases harmful toxic (especially particulate matter and carbon monoxide), which causes about 95,000 deaths annually in Nigeria. After malaria and HIV/AIDS, this is Nigeria’s third highest killer of mostly women and children. Cooking in an open fire in your kitchen is also likened to burning 400 cigarettes an hour. Cooking inefficiently using the traditional method (open fire), causes pneumonia in children, low birth weight babies, still birth, lung diseases etc. Moreover, it is expensive, burning up to 90% more wood than is necessary and costing poor families money that could be put to better use on education, health and nutrition. The use of efficient and...
by Nigeria Cleancooking | Oct 9, 2021 | Uncategorized
The Federal Government of Nigeria is set to develop a clean cooking policy. This was the key message in the just concluded Nigerian Clean Cooking Forum organized by the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cooking in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment and other partners, and with support from Heinrich Boell Stiftung (HBS) and the Nigeria Energy Support Programme (NESP). The two-day event, held on 5th and 6th October 2021, at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja and brought together key policymakers, private sector actors, research institutions, women groups, academia, civil society stakeholders as well as international development partners to discuss the implementation plans towards achieving the clean cooking targets of the Paris Agreement. Speaking at the event, the Honourable Minister of State for Environment, Chief Sharon Ikeazor, stated that it is unacceptable that Nigeria should have the greatest number of people dying in Africa as a result of the lack of access to clean cooking. She pledged the Federal Government’s determination to develop a policy framework for clean cooking in the country. According to the minister, “there is already an inter-ministerial committee saddled with the responsibility of developing this policy. Furthermore, a sub-committee of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Climate Change will coordinate national efforts to address the challenges posed by the lack of access to clean cooking”. She declared that the Ministry is committed to integrating the outcomes of the forum in its NDCs implementation efforts and plans. In her goodwill message, the Honourable Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen OFR, KSG, represented by Mrs. Funke Oladipo, thanked the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Nigerian Alliance for Clean...
by Nigeria Cleancooking | Sep 24, 2021 | Uncategorized
Approximately 127 million people and more than 24 million households cook inefficiently in an open fire. This traditional cooking method is a silent killer. The smoke that emanates from this method of cooking causes 78,000 deaths in Nigeria annually according to the WHO. In fact, Nigeria experiences the highest number of smoke-related deaths in Africa; after Malaria and HIV/AIDS it is the biggest killer. Traditional cooking method is also unnecessarily expensive, costing poor families’ money that could be put to better use on education, health and nutrition. It also causes deforestation and contributes to the effect of climate change. Clean cooking will save lives, empower women, improve livelihood and combat climate change. It is a priority area in energy access that is central in achieving the goals of Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Initiative. It is estimated that adoption of clean cooking by 30million household can reduce about 60 million1 tons of CO2e. This will result to about 15% of Nigeria’s total emission reduction target. Even though clean cooking has many benefits, the rate of adoption by households and institutions has been very slow. The reasons are many: Inadequate efforts to scale up domestic production of clean cookstoves, insufficient access to finance, inadequate awareness about the benefits of clean fuels and stoves, weak government policies, no legislative framework, poorly developed supply chain among others. The two-day Nigeria Clean Cooking Forum brings together key policymakers, private sector leaders, foundations, research institutions, women groups and civil society stakeholders as well as international partners to discuss the implementation plans towards achieving the clean cooking targets in...
by Nigeria Cleancooking | Jun 29, 2018 | News, Uncategorized
The SFM project held a 3-day Business Forum for woodlot developers, fuelwood dealers, efficient woodstoves producers/sellers and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) from June 19-21, 2018 at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Calabar, Cross River State. The forum created an opportunity for fuelwood value chain actors to interact among themselves, exchange experiences, develops skills, and share knowledge and ideas on innovative business and financing models. Over 70% of Nigeria’s estimated 180 million inhabitants still rely on fuel-wood in meeting their energy needs for cooking and heating. The unsustainable and constant use of fuel-wood by Nigerian households and institutions is one of the causes of deforestation and land degradation in Nigeria. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Energy Commission of Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Environment and other stakeholders are supporting the implementation of a 5-Year project: “Sustainable Fuel Wood Management (SFM) in Nigeria”, which commenced in June 2017. The SFM project encourages effective forest management for sustainable fuelwood production and consumption for multiple environmental benefits in Cross River, Delta and Kaduna states for the next 5 years. The Business forum focused on the establishment of smallholder farmers-managed woodlot; establishment of sustainable fuelwood markets; promotion of energy-efficient woodstoves through market based approaches with community-based micro-credits to incentivize woodlot owners and end-users of cookstoves. Presenters at the forum included: Mr. Femi Oye, Managing Director, SMEFunds; Mrs. Happy Amos, Managing Director, Roshan Global Services Ltd; Mr. Biodun Olaore, Country Director, Envirofit Nigeria; Mrs. Habiba Ali, Managing Director, Sosai Renewable Energy Ltd; Dr. Ladipo from CENRAD Consulting Ltd; Sir Daniel Ugbama, Chief Executive Officer, Communal Rural Entrepreneurial Initiative of...
by Nigeria Cleancooking | May 31, 2018 | News, Partner of the Month, Uncategorized
Tara Agro Industries Limited is the Partner of the Month of May! In this interview, the Chairman, Chief Engr. Charles Ugwuh shares their activities in the clean cookstoves sector. Give us a brief introduction about your organisation Tara Agro Industries Limited is an integrated rice processing mill focused on processing paddy stock to finished/polished rice and packaging same as high quality branded rice. The company is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) through the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA). It is one of the five Rice Mills established by the Federal Government in 2009/2012 through the Special Rice Intervention Scheme approved in 2008 aimed at developing high quality milling capacity. The company’s installed capacity is 42,000 tons of Paddy/year. What does your organisation seek to achieve in the Nigeria’s cooking energy market In processing paddy, rice mills generate considerable volumes of rice husk used partly for energy generation for boilers, dryers etc. The residual rice husk is used to produce briquettes which are a viable source of low cost energy for cooking etc. Our Organisation is seeking to promote the use of these rice husk briquettes for cooking in homes at affordable cost. Until now, the rice husk constituted a major environmental hazard and ecosystem challenge. Therefore an effective utilization of the husk is beneficial to all – delivering more healthy, efficient and eco-friendly cooking system for households. Can you tell us about your clean cooking activities including your achievements? Our clean cooking activities are to convert these residual husks into an efficient solid fuel and...
