By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The President Nigerian Environmental Society, NES, Benue state chapter, Dr. Timothy Ishi says environmental experts are committed to innovations that enhance safer and clean environmental energy use in households across the country.

Dr. Ishi stated this in Makurdi during the public exhibition of an eco-friendly cooking stove known as Save80 produced by Atmosfair Climate & Sustainability.

According to Dr. Ishi, the new cooking stove “will not only reduce the felling of trees for energy use as firewood in the state but will contribute to a healthy environment with less smoke emission that humans inhale.”

The Business Development Manager Atmosfair, Musa Lawal described the Atmosfair Save80 clean stove as “an innovative eco-friendly product designed to reduce the use of firewood and smoke emission leading to a healthier life for the user and the environment.”

A medical professional, Dr. Enoga Ben-Ameh of Medical Women Association, Benue state chapter decried the risks women face from smoke during cooking with firewood which causes irritation in the eyes and respiratory infection.

Dr. Ben-Ameh, however, stressed that the designed efficiency of the Save80 cooking stove would significantly check the inhalation of harmful smoke by women during cooking.

He said “According to the World Health Organization, WHO, about 100,000 persons in Nigeria, mostly women, die from smoke inhaled during cooking with firewood.

The Executive Director of Community Links and Human Empowerment initiatives, Dr. Helen Teghtegh expressed her organization’s determination, under its Green Flames initiative project, to encourage behavioral change, especially among women, towards climate change through the clean stove “so that nature is preserved.”

Mrs. Abigail Orbunde, and Mrs. Amakough Odunsi who spoke on behalf of the women who had used the product testified to its efficiency saying “it saves cost of buying charcoal or firewood and prevents inhalation of smoke.”

The exhibition featured a practical demonstration to validate the usage and efficiency of the product after which Atmosfair Climate and Sustainability Limited donated a number of the product to several vulnerable women groups including women in Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camps in Makurdi.