From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
Environmental experts have supported innovations that will enhance safer and clean environmental energy use in households across the country.
President, Nigeria Environment Society (NES), Benue State chapter, Timothy Ishi, stated this in Makurdi during a public awareness and exhibition of an eco-friendly cooking stove known as Save80 produced by Atmosfair Climate and Sustainability Limited.
Ishi, who urged households to make use of such products, said the Atmosfair Save80 cookstove will not only reduce the falling of trees for energy use as firewood in the state but will contribute to a healthy environment with less smoke emission that humans inhale.
Business Development Manager of Atmosfair, Musa Lawal, described the Atmosfair Save80 improved clean cookstove as an innovative eco-friendly product design to reduce the use of firewood and smoke emission into the environment.
Lawal said use of the products by households will lead to a healthier life for the users and the environment.
A medical professional, Enoga Ben-Ameh, of Medical Women Association, Benue State chapter, identified the risks women face relating to smoke during cooking using firewood to include the irritations in the eyes and infection to the respiratory system.
Ben-Ameh, however, said the designed efficiency of the Save80 cookstove will significantly contribute to the reduction of harmful smoke inhalation by women during cooking.
According to WHO, about 100 thousand persons in Nigeria, mostly women, die from smoke inhaled during cooking with firewoods.
Executive Director, Community Links and Human Empowerment Initiatives, Helen Teghtegh, expressed her organisation’s determination, under its Green Flames initiative project, to encourage behavioural change, especially among women, towards climate change through the clean stove so that nature is preserved.
Abigail Orbunde, and Amakough Odunsi. who spoke on behalf of the women using the product, testified to its efficiency, saying it is a must have for all women as it saves cost of buying charcoal or firewood and prevents them from smoke inhalation.
Another user, Uye, said the product will help students in tertiary institutions save resources spent on energy used in cooking given the high cost of energy products in the country.
The exhibition featured a practical demonstration to validate the usage and efficiency of the product after which Atmosfair Climate and Sustainability Limited donated a number of the Save80 cookstove to several vulnerable women groups, including women in internally displaced persons’ camps in Makurdi, Benue State.