The Federal Government (FG) started distributing gas cylinders for free yesterday as part of its campaign to encourage clean cooking energy for households nationwide. The goal is to convert at least one million homes to clean cooking gas by 2030.
It is anticipated that the campaign, which falls under the “Decade of Gas” effort and is titled “LPG grassroots penetration,” will provide women in rural communities all around the nation with roughly 250,000 gas cylinders.
The administration is committed to increasing domestic gas usage, according to Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), who spoke during the program’s flag-off in the Apo Resettlement area of Abuja.
Ekpo, who oversaw the distribution of 1,000 3 kg gas-filled cylinders to rural women selected from the Federal Capital Territory’s six area councils, clarified that the government’s advocacy for gas as the preferred cooking fuel would benefit women and girls, who are disproportionately at risk from using traditional cooking fuels.
“We’re not just launching a programme today; we’re on a mission to change the lives of millions of Nigerians in our six geographical zones,” he declared. Our ambitious but realistic goal is to convert 250,000 homes annually to clean cooking gas by 2030.
This initiative is proof of our unwavering commitment to reducing the excessive reliance on solid fuels, which for a considerable amount of time were the main energy sources in many homes. These fuels include charcoal, kerosene, and firewood.
During his speech, Mr. Ed Ubong, the Coordinating Director of the “Decade of Gas” programme, stated that the private sector-funded initiative would eliminate the usage of wood and paraffin in houses.
He continued by saying that President Bola Tinubu’s motto, “Gas to Prosperity, a Renewed Hope,” is consistent with the “Decade of Gas” programme.
“We would be committed to see how we can move over a million cooking cylinders, mainly to women in rural areas,” he said, referring to the LPG grassroots campaign.
We will be collaborating with the private sector, working under the direction of the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), to determine how we can distribute over a million cylinders at a rate of roughly 250,000 per year to all regions of Nigeria because cooking gas is cleaner and Nigeria has substantial gas resources.