The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has trained 50 women on the use of energy efficient stoves to avoid deforestation and felling of trees and reduce the use of generators for electrification for houses and businesses in Bauchi state.
The women were trained on how to use energy efficient cooking alternatives and roles as individuals, understand how the climate is changing, adopt and practice climate smart agriculture, save energy in homes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce consumerism and cut-down waste mater as well as reduce, reuse, recycle -cut-out single-use plastics.
Speaking on Friday at the occasion of the graduation ceremony and distribution of starter packs to the beneficiaries such as save money on Charcoal- Burn Stove Classic Jikokoa and Cash, the Bauchi State Coordinator of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Ibrahim Mohammed Bashir said that the global climate change has emerged as a challenge faced by every nation in the world.
According to him Nigeria’s northeast exemplifies a typical extreme case of the country’s version of climate change, reveling in ecological imbalance and accompanied with devastating consequences.
Commission said, “It is evident that the northeast grapples with an unprecedented number of ‘climate induced migrations’ courtesy of the multifaceted climate change and its palpable effects; ranging from desertification, drought, flooding and the near disappearance of the Lake Chad basin – which all put the region in a dire strait.”
NEDC further said, “We are seeing the effects of climate change that has exacerbated different conflicts in the North East, from the insurgency to communal conflicts over the years. The drying up of Lake Chad, the southward expansion of the Sahara Desert, floods being experienced across many states, menace of the herdsmen/farmers clashes necessitated by the diminishing availability of forests and grazing lands, are all obvious problems associated with climate change in the region.”
Also speaking, one of the consultants, Annesa Abdullahi Abubakar, said climate change destabilizes the Earth’s temperature balance overtime and has serious consequences on human beings and the environment.
She said, global warming is caused by the retention and increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere, thereby leading to higher surface temperature of the earth.
Aneesa further said, about 1.4 billion people around the world (including several rural households in Nigeria) rely on traditional fuels like coal and wood to meet their basic energy needs.
“This is not only harmful to the environment but can also lead to premature deaths for millions of people, especially women and children.”
