The Federal Government has advised households in Ebonyi to switch from using “dirty” fuels, such as kerosene and firewoods, to the Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Mr Dayo Adeshina, the Programme Manager of the National LPG Expansion Implementation Plan, gave the advice on Thursday in Abakaliki during a two-day sensitisation and awareness campaign in the state.
Adeshina said that Ebonyi was one of the 12 pilot states selected for the programme.
According to him, the Federal Government plans to capture over 30 million households in the switch from dirty fuels to LPG.
“This sensitisation is important so that citizens of these pilot states can effectively assimilate the message.
“We are targeting the state governments, LPG industry stakeholders and the people,” he said.
Adeshina said that the Federal Government realised that for the switch to be effective, certain interventions must be provided to actualise desired goals.
“People who cut trees for firewood and use kerosene should have cylinders and stoves, if they should switch to LPG.
“The Federal Government has pledged to inject between five to ten million cylinders within one year and this is very encouraging.
“We are also considering factors which cause increase in the price of the product and decide to domestic the process by encouraging local production.
“There should be reduction in export from some corresponding producers as the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas Ltd. has applied to domesticate production.
“There are ongoing discussions with several independent producers as the focus in the past was exportation but is presently domestication,” Adeshina said.
In a remark , Gov. David Umahi thanked the Office of the Vice President, which coordinates the programme, for selecting Ebonyi as one of the 12 pilot states.
Umahi, represented by his Deputy, Dr Kelechi Igwe, expressed the hope that the programme would help check the rate of mortality traceable to the use of dirty fuels.
“Household pollution has been blamed for chronic heart diseases, such as stroke, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, amongst others.
“The LPG, apart from providing clean cooking fuel for households, preventing avoidable deaths, among others, is a panacea for boosting the nation’s economy, which is in urgent need for diversification,” the governor said.
He expressed the state government’s readiness to identify with the campaign because of its health and economic benefits and saving the ecosystem from further depletion.
“I have noted with keen interest, the expected outcome of the LPG expansion programme which would ensure massive job and expanding our Gross Domestic Product through skills transfer,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants were tutored on ways of achieving the desired switch to LPG in the state. (NAN)