The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, launched the Grassroots LPG Penetration Programme as part of the Decade of Gas Initiative, distributing free cooking gas cylinders to women and youths.
This initiative is poised to increase access to clean cooking in Nigerian households and eradicate the use of polluting fuels, which expose users to dangerous health conditions such as respiratory disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer, among others.
Only 35.5 million Nigerians out of the estimated 211 million population in 2021 have access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, accounting for a 16.8% clean cooking access rate.
Clean Cooking is described as cooking with clean fuels, which emits little or no pollution when burned. The use of clean fuels such as natural gas and electricity when cooking is considered clean cooking.
In contrast, using firewood, charcoal, dung, and other carbon-emitting sources for cooking is considered Unclean Cooking.
In 2021, about 175.9 million people in Nigeria still engage in unclean cooking.
The proportion has consistently increased in the last two decades. It increased by 44%, from 121.6 million in 2000 to 175.9 million in 2021.
Between 2017 and 2021, an average of 175 million Nigerians used polluting fuels for cooking. This makes Nigeria the third largest country out of 20 globally with poor access to clean cooking.
Unclean Cooking is most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounts for 41.31% or 933.5 million out of the 2.3 billion global population lacking access to clean cooking fuels and technologies.
This trend is critical because the lack of access to clean cooking reflects the proportion of the population exposed to the harmful health and socioeconomic effects of polluting fuels and technologies.