By Our Reporter
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gas 360, Emmanuel Nwandu, has disclosed that over 98,000 Nigerian women die annually from the use of firewood and charcoal.
He revealed further that cooking with firewood and charcoal is equivalent to smoking 20 packages of cigarettes, nothing that such is what Nigerian women in the rural areas go through on a daily basis.
NatureNews can report that burning of woodfuels within was common in the rural and semi-urban areas in Nigeria and it creates indoor pollution as firewood and charcoal produces smoke on burning.
Checks showed that the extent of this problem depend on the species of wood and quality of charcoal used in producing energy. Effects on the user include respirataory and eye problems.
Meanwhile, last weekend, Uwandu gave the hint on killer smoke from firewoods and charcoal in his keynote address during the 20,000 metric tonnes of Liquified Petroleum Gas Depot Project ceremony organised by Windeck Energy Limited.
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The event held at Atabrikang Aquaha in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa-Ibom State.
Uwandu said: ”Cooking with firewood and charcoal is equivalent to smoking 20 packages of cigarettes. For an average smoker that is too much , that is what women in Nigeria have to deal with daily. In Nigeria, 98,000 women die annually from the use of firewood and charcoal and across the 774 local government areas.
Similarly, Uwandu noted that cooking with ‘dirty’ fuel is the higest killer. ”Today, in Nigeria, cooking with dirty fuel is the highest killer but for some reason malaria and HIV get attention, and nobody taalks about cooking with dirty fuel.
He called on the Nigerian governments both at the federal and state level to unlock the global oppoprtunities for clean cooking adding that what the global communities wants ”clean action plans on policy and support for the government to transform their communities from dirty fuel to clean cooking.”
Also speaking at the event, the Managing Director of Windeck Energy Limited, Nos Igiehon Okunbo, said that the company is not just launching a project but leading a movement to encourage Energy use across the country.
Okunbo added that the company is committed to ensuring that deaths resulting from dirty cooking are prevented.
