The Director of Environment, Kaduna State Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr Yusuf Muazu, says the hike in cost of cooking gas could retard the progress made in trying to ensure a sustainable environment.
Mu’azu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Wednesday that with cooking gas now beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians, they would have no alternative than to switch to other sources.
He stated that reverting to other means of energy that had been discouraged in the past, would impact negatively on the environment.
According to him, efforts are been intensified to discourage the use of fuelwood in cooking, but lamented that the hike in price of cooking gas has forced many households to revert to its use.
“This will be counter-productive to several efforts by the government at all levels and other development partners, to mitigate the effect of climate change,” he warned.
Already, checks by NAN in Kaduna have revealed the switch to other means of energy, by residents.
One of the residents, Mrs Mary John, told NAN that she used fuelwood to cook because she could not afford cooking gas, adding that she spent only N200 daily on fuelwood.
Another resident, Mrs Mercy Peter, said that she preferred cooking with gas because it was fast and reliable, but lamented that the consistent increase in its price had forced her to resort to the use of fuelwood.
“I do not like using fuelwood to cook because of the smoke and its accompanying health risk; it makes me cough all the time and affects my eyes,” she said.
But on the contrary, Mrs Karima Alhassan, told NAN that she preferred cooking with charcoal and kerosine because she felt more comfortable using them.
Mrs Amina Alhassan, a housewife, explained that cooking with kerosene and charcoal was easier than cooking with fuelwood or gas, because of the risk involved in using the latter two.
“I am not using gas, particularly because of my under-aged children”, she said.
Also, Mrs Fatima Ibrahim, a mother of 12, said she preferred cooking with fuelwood because it was a long practice by her mother and grandmothers.
Ibrahim, a resident of Tudun Nupawa, Kaduna, who said she spent only N300 daily on fuel wood, explained that cooking with it made food taste better.
She said that she was not using cooking gas because it was expensive and dangerous, adding that many people had lost their lives to gas explosions in homes.
Meanwhile, the Women Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE) said on Wednesday that the hike in price of cooking gas had triggered high demand for clean cookstoves in Kaduna State.
WISE’s Founder and Programme Director, Ms Olanike Olugboji, told NAN that households from neighboring states, as well as Lagos, were among highest bidders of the product.
She described the cookstoves as “better alternative” to fuelwood and kerosene, adding that the increase in price of cooking gas had increased the demand for them.
She recalled that in 2017, WISE, in collaboration with Women’s Earth Alliance, had trained women across Kaduna State as entrepreneurs of clean and energy-efficient cooking stoves.
“People have been calling to buy clean cookstoves from our entrepreneurs as the price of cooking gas has continued to increase beyond the reach of the masses.
“Just yesterday, a Cooperative in Kaduna bought 50 clean cook stoves, and last week, we sold about 85 stoves to customers in Lagos; everyday, people are buying the stoves,” she said.
The price of 12.5kg of cooking gas has risen from N3,200 a few months back, to about N7,000 in some parts of the country, and N7,300 in Kaduna.
Mr Austin Ogbogbo, Marketing Manager, Nigeria LNG Limited had on Sept. 21, blamed the development on the inability of marketers to off-take the full 450,000MT of liquefied petroleum gas allocated to the Nigerian market, due to many factors.
