Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo has reiterated his optimism about
President Bola Tinubu’s determination to move one million households to clean cooking gas by 2030.
In order to actualise this vision, technology-based gas distribution company, Smart Gas has announced the inaugural launch of the LPG penetration and sensitisation campaign in the FCT, Abuja yesterday, via partnership with The Decade of Gas under the leadership of the executive secretary, The Decade of Gas Secretariat, Ed Ubong.
Established in 2011, The Decade of Gas initiative was birthed to activate domestic industrialisation, economic property and elimination of energy poverty in Nigeria by deploying the huge gas reserves in Nigeria, thereby retaining a pivotal role as a pioneering effort in delivering cleaner cooking gas to the less privileged in society in the FCT.
CEO, Smart Gas, Dr. Yinka Opeke, while speaking at the Community Town Hall, Zone A, Apo Resettlement in Abuja said, “Based on available statistics, there are about 42 million homes in Nigeria and we have about 70 per cent living below the poverty line, so the idea of this is to launch the initiative in Abuja, which is very important for us.
Hopefully we would replicate this in other states and it is to honestly discourage people from using solid fuels like firewood, charcoal, kerosene as it aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 7 and 13 which advocates for the use of cleaner energy’’.
Executive Secretary, The Decade of Gas Secretariat, Ed Ubong also added that many Nigerians still cook with firewood, charcoal and kerosene, which are not healthy fuels as they pollute and cause health challenges to the people who use them to cook.
‘‘After Abuja, we are heading to Lagos, we will make sure we criss-cross all the parts of the country to make sure they benefit from this Decade of Gas benevolence,’’ the minister added.
The event featured the distribution of LPG cylinders to recipients selected from the six area councils in the FCT, demonstrative safe usage and highlighting the advantages of cooking gas over traditional cooking methods to attendees who also had the opportunity to interact with Smart Gas’s innovative mobile app technology that revolutionises the conventional methods of purchasing cooking gas amongst other service offerings.
