The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has taken another bold step by making strategic investment in Powerstove, a pioneering Nigerian company specializing in the production of cookstoves, having significant experience in carbon credit projects.
This strategic investment is a milestone in NASENI’s on-going efforts to combat global warming and foster a sustainable ecosystem by Nigerian companies dedicated to decarbonization. As part of this investment, NASENI will provide both capital for growth and technical assistance to Powerstove, enabling the company to scale its production from 100,000 units to over one million units per year.
The Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Agency, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, while speaking about the significance of this initiative, assured that this substantial increase in production capacity will not only meet the growing demand for clean and efficient cookstoves but will significantly contribute to reducing carbon emissions in Nigeria.
“With this investment, NASENI is not only supporting an impact-driven enterprise but also positioning itself to benefit from carbon credit revenue, thereby reinforcing its commitment to sustainable development,” Halilu said. This investment underscores the strong commitment of NASENI’s leadership to address climate change proactively and to build a resilient and sustainable ecosystem of innovative Nigerian companies with the potential to drive decarbonization efforts.
The NASENI boss, Halilu, intensified this investment and it has made substantial increases in production capacity, which will not only meet the growing demand for clean and efficient cookstoves as the Agency looks forward to witnessing the positive impact of this partnership on Nigeria’s environmental and economic landscape.
Powerstove prides itself as the largest local carbon credit project for a private company in Nigeria, currently valued at 4.5 million carbon credits. This fits into the vision of Halilu and from the time he took over as the boss of the agency, he has shown courage and unstoppable spirit since he made this one of the cornerstones of his administration.
With this investment, NASENI is not only supporting an impact-driven enterprise but also positioning itself to benefit from carbon credit revenue, thereby reinforcing its commitment to sustainable development. This investment underscores the strong commitment of NASENI’s leadership to address climate change proactively and to build a resilient and sustainable ecosystem of innovative Nigerian companies with the potential to drive decarbonization efforts.
According to the Managing Director of Powerstove, Mr. Okey Esse, this development was apt and it speaks volume about the intention of his company in partnership with the Agency to improve the production capacity of the powerstove units to serve Nigerians in every way possible. Esse who has a factory for the production of powerstove, said during an interview that the factory’s capacity in terms of production per month brings it anywhere between 10,000 to 15,000 units a month.
“At most we do 20,000, but 20,000 is like utilizing the 100 per cent capacity of the factory. One thing we’ve also done is that we are building ten assembly factories. We are doing it as a budget factory and it is going to be the model factory. So, in that we will produce what they call compost of kits and BASTOS Kits which can allow us to increase these from 40,000 to 60,000 units in a month.
“So, we’ll now send all the kits to different assembly factories coming up in Nigeria. Ten places across Nigeria have been strategically selected. These are what we have done to ensure that we build capacity, thereby creating more job opportunities and we can stimulate the economy through creating jobs locally and also allowing people to distribute these stoves locally,” he added.
According to the founder, there is zero emission from the whole activity and the intention is to replicate this success across the ten assembly factories that are coming up across Nigeria with specific areas that will improve production in Nigeria. Powerstove is said to have been inspired by the personal experience when he lost his mother due to indoor air pollution caused by her long use and exposure to cooking with firewood as a local food vendor which is common in women in rural areas and food vendors in the cities.
According to the team lead, Engr. Ijeoma Nnoromele, through this bitter experience, a new idea was born for the transformation of the cooking system in the country. Also, the difficulties women and girls face in search of firewood to cook in rural areas made the production of Powerstove a necessity.
It has been reported that in rural areas in Nigeria, 1 out of 4 women and girls have been raped, assaulted, or beaten whenever they went in search of firewood. But with the availability of Powerstoves these ugly incidents could be drastically reduced. Powerstove is smoke-free and releases no greenhouse gas emissions.
The continued use of Powerstove reduces deforestation and degradation and helps to restore biodiversity because of the reduction in the use of charcoal and firewood. Powerstove works by burning bio pellets and wood pellets in the combustion chamber to create high intensity controllable flames that cook food 5 times faster and, at the same time, converts the excess heat to generate electricity for the user to charge phones and light bulbs.
It is significant to note that the objectives of NASENI partnering with Powerstove includes expanding the market reach of Powerstove; Creating local jobs through the partnership; Gathering, recording, evaluation, and archiving of stoves sold and distributed as relates to carbon credit; Addressing the health danger and the carbon emissions related to the usage of other cooking solutions in Nigeria.
NASENI understands the positive impact of Powerstove which has about twenty two (22) variants on rural communities and its plan is to make them available across the country on a massive scale to enable the rural communities’ easy access to it. Due to the smokeless design of the stove, it improves indoor air quality in rural communities, thereby reducing health risks like emphysema, cataracts, etc.
Powerstove helps users save up 40 per cent of fuel expenses and also reduces deforestation and its premium stove, Powerstove X200 has built-in battery and component that charges phones and powers LED bulbs. NASENI is collaborating with Powerstove to establish 10 assembly factories across the country. The target is to scale its production from 100 thousands units to over one million units per year.
The investment will reduce costs and help the rural communities maximize the opportunities while channeling their energies to become more productive. This development ties with the investment drive of the NASENI EVC/CEO, Khalil S. Halilu and his amiable team that has led to massive boost in the confidence of the Nigerian people that NASENI is living up to expectations and with more budgetary provisions the sky could be the limit.
This is a game changer and the whole nation will benefit from it, especially the teaming youth population of the country in terms of the job opportunities that will be available.
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