Stakeholders seek improved access to clean energy in Nigeria

A project aimed at identifying how progress can be made in improving access to clean and modern cooking energy and reducing land degradation and loss of biodiversity in Nigeria, says the nation lost seventeen thousand four hundred kilometres of forest across three states between 2000 and 2020.

A United Kingdom Professor, Lindsay Stringer, who has been working in Nigeria on the project, gave the hint at the Nigerian Policy Stakeholders workshop in Abuja.

She said that there was the need for Policy recommendations and implementation of the project findings.

Prof Stringer said that the Nigerian energy security activities must prioritise strategies and develop relevant supports and incentives to transform clean energy access, harnessing local willingness for change while tackling health and environmental challenges.

“Policymakers at national and subnational levels should synergise and harmonise policy and resourcing efforts, seeing efforts to tackle fuelwood extraction and use as a route to achieving SDGs 3, 5, 7, 13 and 15. Cross-sectoral dialogue between Nigeria’s stakeholders is essential in developing solutions to issues surrounding fuelwood use in cooking, and will help overcome challenges, reduce trade-offs and harness co-benefits”. Prof Stringer said.

Prof Stringer noted that the figures were obtained from data collected from the three focused states of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasarawa and Kaduna.

She advised that solutions should be considered when devising blends carefully chosen for all fuelwood-related issues.

Prof Stringer added that women and children were worst hit health-wise, livelihood-wise and environment-wise.

In the same vain, the Dean Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bayero University Kano and Project Lead in Nigeria, Professor Aliyu Barau, said that the partnership re-echoes the need for partnership and cooperation between countries and organizations that are much needed for implementing SDGs and other global sustainability instruments and conventions.

“It may look unimportant to some why our focus on cooking with fuelwood. However, we may only understand the gravity of this challenge in reference to a 2016 study by the German Foundation namely, Heinrich Boll which found that Jigawa State with its predominantly arid landscape loses 300 trees a day to bakeries alone. What of the households in the state? The picture is not remarkably different from most other states in Nigeria. However, what we have seen in top fuelwood producing states – Kaduna, Nasarawa and parts of FCT is more distressing. Yes, this cannot be surprising at all considering the energy crisis and insecurity that have entrapped Nigeria for decades. More than 70% of Nigerian households rely on fuelwood for cooking. Rising prices of LPG may also push more to resort to charcoal and fuelwood. Invariably, this situation exerts more pressure on our forest assets and will have negative effects on the national efforts geared towards landscape restoration, biodiversity and ecosystem services, climate action and other multidimensional challenges, vulnerabilities and risks. Surely, we running out of time.  But it is not too late to act”. Prof. Barau said.

He said that the participation of stakeholders at the meeting was a strong indication of the commitment of their respective organizations in driving various policies and programmes of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I am immensely happy that Nigeria is now on the proper seat through the various organs and policy instruments that the Federal Government puts in place. In my humble opinion, the onus is now largely on the various States and Local governments to translate such actions locally. The civil society is also doing wonderful things.“

He noted that “Anywhere and anytime, the success of every sustainability agenda started with knowledge-based inputs to support policy and decision-making support.”

Participants at the meeting agreed that Nigeria has good policies but implementation was the problem.

The One-Day Workshop Co-organised by University of York, Bayero University Kano and University College London sponsored by the Royal Society London had as its theme; “Improving access to clean and modern energy for cooking while reducing land degradation and biodiversity loss in Nigeria.“