Govt Provides 3,000 Clean Stoves To Rural Women

The Federal Ministry of Environment said last Wednesday, it had provided 3,000 rural women clean-cooking stoves in 2012, in line with  its National Clean Cooking Scheme.

A Senior Research Assistant, Renewable Energy Programme in the ministry, Mrs Ebere Akwani,  said this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.

Akwani said that the ministry had established a five-year programme to promote renewable energy and to create awareness on the need to imbibe clean cooking technologies.

“More than 80 per cent of the rural women in Nigeria still cook with a three-stone-fire place. The effect of smoke inhalation is better imagined than said.

“The woman that is cooking three meals a day on the open fire in an enclosed place usually smokes an average of between three to 18 packets of cigarette a day. That is on her health.

“ On the environment, of course as you are felling trees, we are creating path ways for flash floods and of course extreme heat.’’

The official, however, said that the ministry had just launched the Rural Women Energy Security (RUWES) project to further create awareness on clean cooking energy.

According to her, RUWES is a three-pronged project which seeks to address the need for clean cooking, heating and lighting technologies and cater for rural women.

She said it would also cater for the needs of women who were exposed to dirty energy practice that pushed them further down the poverty line.

“ The Rural Women Energy Security (RUWES) was borne out of the need to improve the health of the woman, improve her economy as a whole and improve her environment.

“Under the RUWES, we have the National Clean Cooking Scheme, which is very practical about stopping the use of firewood, especially for cooking.

“Firewood emits black carbon, Kerosene emits black carbon which are all Short Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCP) that wreak havoc on the environment, reduce agricultural yields and some many other negative consequences that come from SLCP.’’Akwani stressed the need for a shift in the prevalent energy methods as climate change and global warming threaten humanity.

The official said that there would be two projects under the RUWES to address cooking, heating and lighting.

She said the projects included the National Clean Cooking Scheme (NCCS), which seeks to address the need for clean cooking technologies and the Rural Energy Access Project (REAP).