Clean #CookStoves & Energy Expo & Conference In #Abuja

Dotun Roy

Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which is an initiative of International Centre For Energy, Environment & Development (ICEED) kicked off its 2 day Clean Cooking Energy Expo & Conference in Abuja today 26th January 2015 and it has been scheduled to end on 27th January.

Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in partnership Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Shell, Oando, USAID, TechnOil, FCMB, Energy Commission of Nigeria as well as Christain Aid have put this event together toward achieving an effective renewable energy transition in Nigeria particularly in creating clean, safe and healthier environment.

.  clean cookstove and wonderbags

The Expo/conference among other things is aimed at creating enbaling environment for the growth of the clean cookstoves market in Nigeria in particular. Recent findings by World Health Organisation shown that nearly 3 billion people around this world cook on open basic stoves and the resulting household air pollution frm cooking with solid fuels which contributes to more than four million premature deaths every year.

Speaking at the conference, Honourable Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Laraba Mallam said millions of women die every year as a result of smoke emission for cooking. She further posited that women at the greater risk when it comes to danger from crude and traditional method of cooking. N9.6 million has been approved by Federal Government of Nigeria for clean cookstoves and wonderbags and we are working towards the procurement and distribution of these clean cookstoves to the women in rural areas as well as disadvantaged ones across the country, she explained

 Minister of Environment, Mrs  LL Mallam

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Ewah Otu Eleri, who is Coordinator, Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and Executive Director, ICEED who is the brain behind the conference said Nigeria is long overdue for the switching having blessed with abundance sources of energy, it is high time we come to term with current renewable energy policy which would serve as catalyst and booster for socio-economic development in the country.

 Mr Ewah

Robert Jan Van Der Plas, Managing Director, MARGE, while giving an overview of the National Clean programme and the approach to reach 17.5 million households by 2020, stressed that Nigeria has an edge in terms of making LP gas available to all its citizens which would help expedite the total switch from kerosene to gas in every households compare to Kenya and some other African countries with no source of crude oil.

 Mr Robert

According to Christain Aid publication 70% of Nigeria’s approximately 170 million people still rely on traditional feul wood stoves for cooking and heating despite the health dangers it poses.

With this new development, most vulnerable families will not only have access to affordable clean cook stoves, it will help communities to be able to adopt health enhancing behaviours while improving their livelihoods.