To preserve the serenity of the environment, Bauchi state government is doing something spectacular to address the problem of global warming. MOHAMMED LAWAL reports.
Bauchi.
There is no gainsaying the fact that global warming is fast shaping the lives of people and challenging traditional methods of doing things for generations.
What appeared western for most average Africans and Nigerians, in particular, is increasingly being felt the more the continent the more despite being at the receiving end of the climate change contributory cycle.
Both science and politics of climate intertwine to combine a force that necessitate governments across the globe to come together and stage a united front to end the scourge of global warming through several Conference of Parties (COP) and accords, the prominent of which is the Paris Accord that was ratified by 191 nations.
Nigeria is signatory to the Paris Accord and committed to implement the declarations contained in the agreement. More than half of current Nigeria’s population depends on climate change-sensitive activities, mostly farming.
Bauchi state commissioner for housing and environment, Hamisu Mu’azu Shira said most of the trees cut in the state exposed land resources to desertification, dryness and loss of biodiversity as a result of joblessness among youths, especially in rural communities.
Shira said environmental unfriendly practices transcending deforestation compounded healthcare problems. Also disease outbreaks during the rainy season owing to flooding, he said, left no one feeling safer.
Bauchi , one of the six northeastern states and in line with its experience of global warming came up with several policies and strategies to minimise the effects of climate change on its population.
Having observed that citizens of the state cut lots of trees in search of energy for domestic purposes, the state government, he said, set aside over four million naira for the production of local stoves powered by stalk of grains slightly modified into briquette.
The initiative
The briquette-powered stoves which are energy-friendly and global warming sensitive, are designed to be an alternative source of cooking energy for people irrespective of their locations.
The stove neither uses diesel nor kerosene but briquette made from processed domestic waste.
With the stoves passing piloting, the state government through the Ministry of Housing and Environment hopes to put an end to indiscriminate cutting down of trees especially in rural communities in order to meet the cooking energy demand of the cities and towns.
He said, “The state workforce is the first target beneficiaries of the briquette-powered stove. The wisdom is simple- they are expected to play a valuable crusade role to get other citizens of the state to subscribe to the idea of jettisoning the use of firewood for cooking and other domestic energy needs of households of the state.”
Shira explained that the stoves are never loans but a direct transaction between the parties involved.
“The state government cannot afford to provide loans to all citizens of the state with current economic realities on the ground.
The price of the stoves is subsidised to make it easier for all the classes of workers to afford to buy without much stress on their pockets.”
To Shira, the government subsidided the original price of the stove by 60 percent, and would be made available to all cadres of workers in the state.
He said with this innovation, people are bound to make money from hitherto valueless waste that in most instances, affluent individuals pay waste collectors to evacuate it from their homes.
“Everyone can afford stalks of grains that farmers in our communities left to the mercy of termite and decay. It is not costly. This simply connotes that preparing the briquette to power the stove would not be tasking to users of the stove.
“Therefore, farmers are open to making extra money from the stalk and opportunities would be created for other people to make a living out producing briquette instead of cutting down forest’s trees which further endangered our planet,” the commissioner said.
“The initiative would help the state earn the trust of development partners, especially in the area of fighting global warming of climate change while meeting its quarter in ending climate change in Nigeria and the world at large.
“This initiative would be replicated in the entire state to meet internationally accepted best practices in terms of energy consumption in the light of growing concerns for global warming. We have desk officers of each ministry, department and agency of the state.”
