The Director-General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Dr. Mustapha Abdullahi, has disclosed that the commission has reduced carbon emissions by one percent, saying that the agency plans to cut it down in the country to net zero by 2050.
Abdullahi made this disclosure on Saturday in Abuja at the maiden sensitisation campaign of using improved woodstoves in rural areas held at Kurudu Village, Karu Area Council, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The campaign, according to the commission, is to promote the adoption and use of improved cook stoves in communities across the country.
The DG, who said the country has not achieved a 100 percent cut down of carbon emissions but it has so far been reduced to one percent, explained that the improved wood stoves were designed to burn fuel-wood more efficiently and cleanly, reducing fuel consumption and harmful emissions.
He said the campaign was not just about providing a new product, but about creating a new culture of clean cooking, adding that
they can also save time, money, and labour for the users as well as improve their health and well-being.
Abdullahi said the commission would provide a feedback mechanism for all to give a review of their experiences while using the cook stoves.
He said: “We are here to demonstrate how improved cook stoves work, and how they can benefit you and your families. We will also distribute some improved cook stoves to selected households.
“We will provide training and support on how to use and maintain them. We hope that you will try them out, and share your feedback and experiences with us and your neighbors.
“We are going to design a feedback mechanism where we want to hear from them, to give us a review of what they have saved.”
The DG said cooking with a traditional biomass stove was a major source of household air pollution, which causes millions of premature deaths every year, especially among women and children.
A women leader, Mrs Ladi Nahum,
said they would keep sensitising other families on the usage of cook stoves for efficiency.
Nahum said that they were using firewood, which was very expensive time-consuming, and had carbon emissions, adding that it was not good for their health, and thanked the commission for this gesture on behalf of Kurudu women, assuring them of getting feedback.
