Residential Houses Generate 50% Of Nigeria's GhG Emissions- Ikeazor

Residential Houses Generate 50% Of Nigeria's GhG Emissions- Ikeazor

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja 

                 Ikeazor

The Minister of State for Environment, Barr Sharon Ikeazor has revealed that residential houses generate over 50 percent of Nigeria’s Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emissions, with a call on Nigerians to adopt cleaner cooking methods.  

She stated this in Abuja yesterday at the 2021 Nigeria Clean Cooking Forum with the theme, "Clean Cooking Energy for All in Nigeria – Achieving the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) targets on Clean Cooking”. 

Ikeazor said the use of cleaner, modern cookstoves and fuels could drastically reduce exposure to harmful smoke, thereby improving the health of rural women, creating wealth, providing myriad of economic opportunities for Nigerians, with  important environmental and climate benefits.

She stated that by 2030, over 60 percent of households in Nigeria would be cooking with traditional biomass, just as over 70 percent of the population relies on fuel wood in meeting their energy needs for cooking and heating.

According to her, "Dependency on biomass for cooking and or heating purposes increases pressure on local natural resources, and poses threat to the health and safety of end-users, mainly women often accompanied by their children". 

The minister stated that more than 90,000 Nigerian women and children die annually from firewood smoke, lamenting the current spate of deforestation, which she pegged at 5.4Mt of CO2 (GFW). 

This, she said resulted to unsustainable wood harvesting that reduced carbon uptake by forest, adding that the ministry had supported the implementation of programmes on clean cooking, meant to reduce GhG emissions and boost green economy.

Ikeazor stated that the federal government is keen on attaining the NDCs target by ensuring that households convert from the use of inefficient cooking fuels such as fuelwood, charcoal and kerosene to LPG and other efficient cooking fuels. 

She appreciated the contribution of the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (NACC) and International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development (ICEED) in promoting clean and more efficient cooking technologies.

To this end, she enjoined stakeholders from relevant sectors to join forces with the forum in tackling the challenges of inefficient cooking fuels, both nationally and globally. 

Ikeazor assured that the ministry is committed to integrating the deliberations of the forum while implementing the NDCs.