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By Adewale Sanyaolu
In a move aimed at deepening Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly called cooking gas, Smart Gas Limited and Women in Energy Network (WIEN), have announced a partnership to deepen cooking gas penetration in Nigeria.
Announcing the partnership at a media briefing in Lagos at the weekend, Chief Executive Officer of Smart Gas Limited, Dr. Yinka Opeke, said the intervention will see the company distribute about 100,000 cooking gas cylinders in 3kg, 6kg sizes across the 774 Local Councils in the country.
She said the firm’s intervention was in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.
According to her, she said the goal is to transit a larger chunk of the women folk from the use of dirty fuel, which included; firewood, kerosene and charcoal to cooking gas which is a cleaner and healthier source of energy.
Opeke said over half of the populations live below the poverty line, especially in the face of the harsh economic realities which makes cooking gas affordability impossible for this category of people.
However, she said, through the support of external partners who are ready to commit resources to the cause by paying for the cost of the cylinders, more households have been able to be penetrated and have now switched over to the use of cooking gas.
She said Smart Gas takes priority in wide scale adoption of cooking gas in line with the government’s policy of ensuring that no Nigerian is left behind in the transition to cleaner fuels, hence it has been distributing cylinder through several initiatives.
According to her, the company had earlier undertaken a ‘Waste for Gas’ initiative whereby gas cylinders were distributed to the masses in exchange of waste generated from leaning their environment.
Opeke said the group hopes to attract more financiers for the project so that more people in the local communities could be reached.
“We have identified the gas niche in the grassroots and we are looking at how we can get them involved in gas adoption,” she said.
Calling for more financiers to aid the project, she said; “By supporting Smart Gas, you are supporting the grassroots adoption of cooking gas and you are transitioning families with one cylinder at a time and improving their livelihood. I hope that this partnership will help to attract financiers locally and internationally,”
Earlier in her welcome address, the President of WIEN, Mrs. Eyono Fatai-Williams, said the partnership aligns with the Nigerian government’s agenda for fuel diversification and economic sustainability, particularly as the nation work towards reducing its dependence on traditional, non-renewable energy sources.
She added that the Nigerian government has recognized the importance of diversifying its energy mix to ensure long-term economic stability.
‘‘By promoting LPG as an alternative to firewood and coal, this initiative directly supports the federal government’s National Gas Expansion Program (NGEP), which aims to increase domestic LPG consumption and reduce reliance on kerosene and other polluting fuels,’’
According to Fatai-Williams, LPG offers a more cost-effective and sustainable energy source for households compared to firewood, coal, and kerosene as it not only reduces household energy expenses in the long run but also helps the country reduce fuel importation costs.
She added that the increased use of LPG mainly from local sources like the NLNG and other fractionation plants like NEDOGAS strengthens our economy by keeping energy-related funds circulating within Nigeria.
