As part of its effort to promote clean cooking energy for families nationwide, the Federal Government commenced a program yesterday aimed at distributing gas cylinders to households.
Gatekeepers News reports that the programme seeks to transition at least one million homes to clean cooking gas by 2030.
The programme, which is under the ‘Decade of Gas’ initiative, tagged LPG grassroots penetration, is expected to distribute about 250,000 gas cylinders to women in rural communities across the nation.
At the flag-off of the programme in the Apo Resettlement area of Abuja, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, emphasized the administration’s commitment to increasing domestic gas usage.
During the event, Ekpo supervised the distribution of 1,000 numbers of 3kg cylinders filled with gas to rural women from the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory.
He explained that the government’s promotion of the use of gas as the cooking fuel of choice would improve the health of women and girls who bear the greatest risk in the use of traditional cooking fuel.
Ekpo said “We’re not only introducing a program today; we’re on a mission to change millions of Nigerians’ lives in our six geographical zones. By 2030, we want to convert 250,000 houses a year to clean cooking gas, which is a lofty but attainable target.”
“This program is evidence of our steadfast dedication to lessening the over-reliance on solid fuels, which for a long time served as many households’ primary source of energy and include firewood, kerosene, and charcoal.”
In his remarks, the Coordinating Director of, the ‘Decade of Gas’ program, Mr. Ed Ubong, said the programme which is funded by the private sector aims to eradicate the use of wood and kerosene in homes.
He added that the ‘Decade of Gas’ programme aligns with President Tinubu’s theme: “Gas to Prosperity, a Renewed Hope”.
Ubong said ““As part of the LPG grassroots programme, we would be committed to see how we can move over a million cooking cylinders, mainly to women, in rural areas.”
He further stated “Cooking gas is cleaner and Nigeria has significant gas resources and so we will be partnering with the private sector working under the supervision of the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas) to see how we can deploy over a million cylinders at about 250,000 a year to all parts of Nigeria”.
