Success Nwogu A former President, Nigerian Meteorological Society (NmetS), Prof. Clement Akoshile, has warned that Nigeria is facing great environmental, ecological, and health risks as well as depletion of human resources given the report by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2022 that many households that were using liquefied petroleum gas or cooking gas as of 2021 had reverted to using firewood and other dirty fuels for cooking.
In an interview with the New Telegraph, the renewable energy expert posited that such retrogressive development, if unchecked, could deplete the nation’s workforce as users of charcoal are prone to health issues that could lead to death.
He stated that it was imperative for cooking gas to be accessible and affordable. It would be recalled that the 2022 Nigeria Multidimensional Poverty Index released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in November 2022 posited that poor and vulnerable households (PVHHs) in Abia, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Ekiti, Enugu, and Kogi states were 100 per cent deprived of clean cooking fuels. This showed that all PVHHs in these states cook their meals with dung, charcoal and fire usage’wood.
The NBS report also revealed that in 2022, many of the households that were using LPG as of 2021, had reverted to using firewood and other dirty fuels for cooking d as they could not afford cooking gas.
This is a big blow as Nigeria has been campaigning for the majority of its population to adopt LPG as the major source of cooking to meet clean cooking targets under the global energy transition. Also, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited said that it delivered only 40 per cent of Nigeria’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) demand in 2022.
It also stated in a statement on its website that it had planned to supply 100 per cent LPG, otherwise called cooking gas, but that it was only able to supply 40 per cent, representing 400, 000 tons of LPG and that the 60 per cent shortfall was then imported by marketers. NLNG had pledged in September 2021 to penetrate the Nigerian domestic LNG supply space from July 2022 to help address the perennial gas-to-power and gas-to-industry supply challenge in the country.
The Managing Director of NLNG, Dr Philip Mshelbila, during an annual general meeting of LPG marketers in September 2022, lamented that NLNG had not met its target. He said: “When we made that commitment last year, the intention was that every molecule of butane and propane that we produce in our facility will come into the domestic market and since then we have made every effort to keep to that January 2022.
We have been successful in achieving a supply of 100 per cent of our butane production. “We have not been able to reach 100 per cent with propane not because we don’t want to but because the market capacity to absorb the propane is just not there. We intend that all the butane and all the propane that we produce goes into the domestic market whether propane is being used to blend with butane as cooking gas, used as autogas, or used in industry to generate power.”
Akoshile, who also is a former Director, of the Renewable Energy Centre, at the University of Ilorin, called on the government, private sector and other corporate bodies to make cooking gas accessible and affordable. He also called on them to sustain education on the importance of using cooking gas and the dangers of using charcoal.
Akoshile said: “It is a negative development that many people are reverting to the use of charcoal. But the people who are supposed to create the edu cation and make the facilities available to achieve the desired change possible are not doing enough if they are doing something.
“Reverting to the use of charcoal is bringing hazards to the environment and endangering the lives of the users. Also, the smoke that goes into the air affects all of us and affects climate change. Those using it endanger their lungs, and their capability to work and shorten their lives. “It is also inimical to the policy of the Federal Government. In the renewable energy plan, if you do not take enough capital, you will not get enough outcomes. It is capital intensive.
The government should plan for it so that people can access the modules at accessible prices. It has to be accessible and at at cheap price. If you are asking people to change and they do not have the means and the means are not provided to them, they are not going to cooperate. “Government should find a way to subsidise the LPG. It is not only the government but the companies who should also be involved in the investments. Many of these companies are carrying away a lot of money. Also, those energy companies must also subsidise.” He added: “We have some problems in the country. They include continuity, sustainability, and adequate information.
They are lumped together. In continuity, when you start to educate people to change, you have to continue educating them to change. If you do not do that, you will not succeed. “So if you go on the wood that we cut down, they must cut their lives so that they will enjoy the cut-down. Many people do not have access to gas or LPG.
And those who do, may not have access to fund. So those are some of the problems. “Accessibility and affordability are key. Having done that, those to address that, are they ignorant persons? Or the person who can not afford it? The person who does not know liquified gas just knows that he must cook. So you have to educate him and make it affordable for him. If that is not done, it will not succeed.
