Health issues like stroke, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer have been associated with unclean sources of energy.
John Nwachukwu, a resident of Angwadadi, a community located in the suburbs of Abuja, has been a restaurant owner for many years. Since his 16 years of running Cobona Kitchen, however, he has never been told or felt any responsibility towards the environment through his cooking practice.
"Climate change, clean cooking? I have not heard of that before," Mr Nwachukwu, who cooks with firewood mostly, said when this reporter played up the terms.
However, in 2019 when he was diagnosed with short sightedness, Mr Nwachukwu switched to charcoal.
"When I started using this charcoal, I saw that the charcoal system is better than firewood. Charcoal is even faster" he said.
As would be discovered in this story, many residents of Angwadadi, where Mr Nwachukwu lives, engage in unclean means for their cooking, adding to environmental pollution and setting back the possibility of a clean energy target.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 2.6 billion people cook with polluting open fires or simple stoves fueled by kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal.
In Nigeria, more than 100 million people depend on wood as a source of fuel for cooking and smoke from open fires result in over 95,000 deaths annually.
Part of this 100 million are residents of Angwandadi, a village located in Nyanya, a suburban district in the Municipal Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
"Why we cook with wood"
Although Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) has been suggested as an alternative for cooking, charcoal and firewood continue to top this list for many average Nigerian households.
Clean cooking involves the use of modern stoves and fuels which help to improve health, protect the climate and environment, and help users save time and money.
Residents of this community are however ignorant of the concept of clean cooking and climate change and do not think they can switch to cleaner sources of cooking energy, especially with the continuous rise in the price of gas.
While residents of Angwadadi are aware of the health implication of using these sources of energy from their experiences, they are not aware of its environmental implication.
Health issues like stroke, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer have been associated with these sources of energy, but they also release toxic substances that pollute the environment.
Esther Agono, a widow with five children, who has never heard of the terms 'climate change' or 'clean cooking' said she has had some health challenges from the use of firewood but still uses it because she cannot afford an alternative.
"This is the first time I am hearing about climate change or clean cooking. The little I know about using firewood, even me personally if I use firewood, throughout that night I cannot close my eyes because it affects my eyes and it ceases my breath."
Other residents also narrate similar effects they feel after using firewood to cook.
"We can't afford to cook with gas"
Despite the health implications of using firewood and charcoal, residents of this community have no financial wherewithal to change their means of cooking.
"Before, I thought gas was more economical but now buying gas to cook for me is higher," Mr Nwachukwu says. "In a day I can use charcoal of N1,000 or N1,200 if I calculate it in a week, that is almost N8,000. 6Kg of gas is about N5,000 and that one will only serve me three days, so I prefer charcoal."
"If only they can bring the price of gas down, poor men also can use gas" he added.
Rebeca Agada, also noted that it is not her preference to use charcoal or firewood but her limited source of income restricts her to using them.
"Because gas is too expensive, poor people cannot use gas. 2kg now, if you go to a fueling station they say N3,000 or N2,500 and that N2,500 cannot take a family a week so i have to use charcoal.
"N50,000 is chicken change for rich people but if my husband can work and collect N50,000 a month, I cannot use charcoal" she said.
The price of gas is also an issue for Mrs Agono, who uses a mixture of firewood, charcoal and gas for her bread making.
"At times I use gas but it is not easy for me to get money to fill gas. Why I am still using firewood is because I don't have any alternative. I mix it up with charcoal."
Most of the residents believe the government's policies on clean cooking will fail if it does not improve the standard of living of its citizens.
"The whole thing boils down to seeing how they can empower the average Nigerian. That is just it. Because even if you subsidise gas, or give everybody a cylinder, it won't work because many people will still not be able to afford it," Ms Joy said.
Is there a clean cooking policy in Nigeria?
There is no stand-alone policy for clean cooking in Nigeria although there are policy guidelines that touch different aspects of clean cooking.
The International Centre for Energy Environment and Development (ICEED) noted that Nigeria has conflicting policies and national targets on clean cooking.
In 2011, the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves was inaugurated to build a public-private partnership to introduce 10 million fuel-efficient stoves to Nigerian homes and institutions by 2021.
In 2020, LPG Expansion Programme was launched under the office of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, to facilitate the consumption of LPG from 500,000 Metric tonnes per annum to over 5 million.
In the same year, the Federal Government released its COVID-19 stimulus plan; The Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan 2020. This seeks to promote the domestic utilisation of gas, among others, by encouraging indigenous manufacture of gas cylinders and other accessories and building gas filling stations to support the adoption and use of LPG.
Earlier in June, NAAC announced that the Federal Government had established a committee to develop a national policy on clean cooking to meet universal access.
As shown in this community, these policies have not resulted in significant improvement in clean energy. This leaves the question, what then is a feasible solution?
Gloria Bulus, an environmentalist, suggested sensitisation and the provision of affordable, available and accepted alternatives.
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"Introduce alternatives that are available, affordable, accessible and accepted by the users. Sensitisation and awareness creation must be carried out intensively for users to understand the impact of using charcoal and firewood and the benefits of alternatives" she said.
Michael Terungwa, the executive director of Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP), said gas is the best alternative at the moment because it is available but it should be subsidised.
"The best alternative is gas, it's cleaner even though that is a myth. We have it in abundance and we are even flaring it. The only way to bring down the price of gas is to subsidise".
He also suggested the conversion of biowaste to biogas and the provision of innovative opportunities.
"You can use a gasifier (a small stove that gives fire like gas). Conversion of biowaste into biogas especially in urban areas where you have biowaste. Solar cookstoves, solar cookers (although they cannot prepare heavy meals that take time).
"The reason we do not push too much is because most of these require government action but the body language is not encouraging," he added.
FOA document on state of the world forest 2022 recommends increasing efficiency in the wood fuel conversion, processing and utilisation processes, improving wood stove thermal efficiency, and increasing access to modern energy forms, such as electricity, renewable forms like solar and wind, liquefied petroleum gas and biogas from organic wastes.
"Support to this report was provided by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID Africa) and it is made possible through funding support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."
