Greenplinth Africa signs MoA with Benue to tackle carbon emission

By Chinyere Anyanwu

Greenplinth Africa, an organisation with notable footprints in the decarbonisation of Nigeria and the African continent as a whole, has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Benue State to tackle carbon emission and its debilitating effects on the environment and human communities.

The signing ceremony took place in Lagos on Tuesday, March 3, during the Green Conference 2026 themed: “Decarbonising Africa: Pathway to Climate Finance, Sustainable Growth and Green Economy.”

Speaking at the event, the Director General, Benue State Council on Climate Change, Dr. Daniel Mailumo, commended Greenplinth Africa for its untiring push in ensuring that the whole country goes green, stating that, “the Memorandum of Agreement signed between Greenplinth Africa and Benue State is a landmark engagement between us in that it is a partnership strategy for deployment of two million clean cookstoves to Benue.”

He added that, “the deployment of clean cookstoves to Benue will mean that rural women will no longer be using firewood for cooking, but will be using clean cookstoves that have low emissions. So, that will also help our environment because we are driving towards net-zero emissions.”

Also speaking, the Deputy Managing Director/Chief Finance Officer, Greenplinth Africa, Babatunde Aina, said the partnership with Benue State is a major breakthrough in Greenplinth Africa’s efforts to engage governments at all levels and the private sector in the fight against climate change and its resultant challenges.

Explaining the modalities of the agreement, Aina said, “there’s a slight difference between Memorandum of Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding. There’s a difference between commitment and talk. When you sign an MoA, you are committed to take action. Today, we signed the Memorandum of Agreement with Benue State. The agreement means ‘we are going to do it.’

“Among all the states we’ve been going to, they’ll be the first state that is going to benefit from carbon credits. We’re going to give them two million clean cookstoves. Every individual who gets a clean cookstove in Benue State will get N10,000 every month; two stainless steel pots and more importantly, they get 40kg of briquettes produced from farm wastes.”

According to him, “Benue State is huge. It is the food basket of Nigeria. And they have so much farm waste there like rice husks. We will be producing briquettes and giving to them free of charge. Also, we’ll be giving them NHIS for each family of eight free of charge.”

Aina noted that the project is geared towards reversing, “decades of the neglect that has happened in that space. Women, unfortunately, are the ones who are at the forefront of this. Women are the ones who do the cooking and the collection of firewood. They’re the ones who go to the forest. They’re the ones who get molested and assaulted. And we want to stop that.   

“We want to ensure that the girl child gets better time to read to better achieve her capacity and objectives; to ensure that the mothers get treatment for whatever air, nose and throat ailments they have through the use of firewood. And the Federal Government, state and local governments will be able to generate revenue from the project.   

“We’ve been talking to almost all the states, and many states have committed, and this is going to catapult them to the top because our resources are going to be dedicated to them. And by the time people now see what is going on there, they will understand that this is the way to go.”

Salisu Dahiru, a member of the Management Team of Greenplinth Africa, said, “Nigeria is among the first few countries that have a Climate Change Act in place. This Climate Change Act gives it the powers and the opportunity to not only implement but also enforce some of the requirements that every corporate body and individual is expected to play in the country.

“The assignment is huge, but various state governments are demonstrating individual commitment by partnering with reputable private sector organisations like Greenplinth Africa, to be able to push and accelerate implementation of some of these climate change-related projects on the ground as quickly as possible.”

Part of the highlights of the event was the presentation of the Award of Green Icons to the Benue State government and Dangote Group, for their recognition of the importance of eradicating the problem of carbon emission.