...Tasks women on cleanliness
BY AMUCHE AGBO
The Wife of Ebonyi State Governor, Chief (Mrs.) Rachael Umahi in collaboration with International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development (ICEED) and with support from the Heinrich Boell Stiftung (HBS) has launched the “Ebonyi State Clean Cooking Programme” to avert the health hazards associated with smoke from cooking with fire wood among women and Children in the State.
Speaking while launching the programme in Abakaliki, the Governor's Wife represented by the Chairman of Ohaozara Local Government Area and Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Ebonyi State, Mrs. Nkechinyere Iyioku commended the organisers and ICEED for the lofty initiative saying that the programme came at the time green house gas emissions are attracting global discourse.
The Wife of the Governor who advised Ebonyi Women to persistently embrace cleanliness in their dealings, said smoke from kitchen kills over 95,000 people annually according to the World Health Organization (WHO) including respiratory and eyes related problem due to inefficient and unclean cooking methods especially Women in the rural areas. She observed that cutting down of trees, deforestation and destruction of ozone layers have seriously endangered lives of people in the society, saying cleanliness remains the best option to improve health and environmental protection while urging Women in the State to embrace clean cooking.
She directed that all boarding Secondary Schools Should convert from open fire to efficient wood stoves as it will ultimately impact their lives positively and called on Local Government Chairmen, Development Centre Coordinators, Community Leaders among others to support the programme and ensure clean cooking stove gets to every households in their various localities.
Earlier, the chairman of the event who is also the Commissioner for Women affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Deborah Chinwe Okah noted that clean cooking saves lives, empower women, improve livelihood and combat climate change. She lauded ICEED’s relentless efforts in providing access to safe and clean cooking energy in the State and expressed optimism that production of the clean cooking stoves would create job opportunities, improve health conditions of Women and reduce pressure on forests. She implored the commitment of Local Government Council Chairmen and urged them to be active participants in facilitating the health and economic viability of Ebonyi people, adding that all hands must be on deck towards achieving and implementing the clean cooking targets in the State.
While rendering background of the event, the Coordinator, Family Succour and Upliftment Foundation (an initiative of the Wife of the Governor, Ebonyi State), Evang. Chukwuma Elom stressed that clean cooking should be adopted both in households and educational institutions in the State to alleviate sufferings of Women. He added that the introduction of clean cooking technologies remain the best solution to the problem of rural women in the State, assuring the support of the Family Succour and Upliftment foundation to drive home the project.
The Executive Director of ICEED, Mr. Ewah Eleri in his welcome address, hinted that excessive use of firewood has contributed to environmental damages, climate change and also has caused a lot of health challenges for women and children. "The Ebonyi State clean cooking programme being launched today will bring the benefits of clean cooking to 130, 000 households in the State". He charged Local Government Council Chairmen to establish clean cookstoves production centre in their various LGAs as it would create at least 4,000 jobs to Ebonyians and the opportunity of exporting to neighbouring States and other States in the country.
In his goodwill message, Jochen Luckscheiter, Country Director, Heinrich Boell Stiftung congratulated Ebonyi State Government for taking up the issue of clean cooking and putting it into its programming. He mentioned that “driving the clean cooking agenda involves thinking and acting from the ground-up to understand people’s habits and to influence them to think in fine prints and in many ways decentralised systems that can enable change. He concluded that clean cooking saves lives, the forest and the climate and is a proverbial low hanging fruit to reduce emissions in Nigeria”.
In their good will messages, the State Commissioner for health Dr. Daniel Umezuruike and his counterpart for Environment Dr. Richard Nnabue extolled Her Excellency, Chief (Mrs.) Rachael Umahi for taking such bold step and called all and sundry to queue into the programme to better lives of the rural Women, describing the programme as a welcome development and explained that people die untimely as a result of inefficient and unclean cooking technologies and observed that embracing the project would enhance the sustainability of humanity, adding that their Ministries would do all humanly possible to avert such challenges and support the clean cooking programme.
Also in their goodwill messages; the Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy matters and rural Development, Chief. Donatus Njoku and Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Business Development, Dr. Stephen Odoh, lamented on the increasing challenges of cooking with firewood and associated smoke in the Country and called on leaders and Stakeholders of the State to endeavour to step down the project to the local communities and make it an empowerment scheme among youths to attain the desired goals. They emphasised the opportunity for making a Ebonyi State a clean cooking technology production hub capable of providing employment for youths in the State through the implementation of the clean cooking programme.
Meanwhile, launching of the programme drew the presence of Local Government Council Chairmen, Permanent Secretaries and staff of various Ministries, representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), women groups among others.
