80m Cookstoves Project Targets Health Risks, Deforestation In Nigeria

Nigeria’s dependence on firewood for cooking has come under renewed scrutiny, as stakeholders warned that the country’s household energy crisis continues to fuel avoidable deaths, environmental degradation and deepen poverty.

A new 80-million-clean-cookstoves initiative is being considered as a possible intervention.

At the centre of the intervention is the carbon AI firm Greenplinth, which has appointed the Emir of Nasarawa, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, as Royal Flagbearer of the ambitious national cookstove rollout aimed at expanding clean cooking access across Nigeria.

Greenplinth Africa’s president and group chief executive officer, Olawale Akinwumi, stated this during a strategic stakeholders’ retreat held in Lagos, themed “Clean Cooking Access in Africa: Igniting Socio-Economic Change with 80m Clean Cookstoves In Nigeria.”

He remarked that the initiative draws attention to a deeper national problem: millions of Nigerians still rely on traditional cooking methods, exposing households to indoor pollution and accelerating forest loss.

Commenting, Former General Manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, Adetokunbo Adedeji, described the challenge as one that goes beyond energy poverty.

“For generations, traditional cooking methods, predominantly open firewood stoves and kerosene stoves, have served as the primary energy source for households across developing communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and beyond. This reliance, however, carries a staggering and often invisible cost: a compounding crisis of public health devastation and accelerating environmental degradation,” Adedeji said.

He warned that household air pollution from traditional cooking systems now claims more than 3.2 million lives worldwide each year.

“Household air pollution from these stoves claims more than 3.2 million lives annually, making it one of the leading environmental risk factors globally. Simultaneously, the insatiable demand for firewood strips forests bare, driving deforestation and desertification, and releasing enormous quantities of greenhouse gases that accelerate global climate change,” he added.

The eco-firm says its clean cookstove project is designed to address those concerns by reducing smoke exposure, cutting firewood use and generating economic opportunities.

Group Chief Financial Officer of the company, Babatunde Aina, said the project was not just another environmental programme, but a broader social intervention.

“This project is about replacing smoke with safety. It’s about replacing pollution with protection. It’s about replacing waste with value,” Aina said.