By Caleb Ayansina

ABUJA—THE Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Mallam, yesterday, said that the Federal Government embarked on the N9.6 billion cooking stove project to save women and children, who were dying due to smoke inhaled from firewood on daily basis.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, reported that about 95, 300 people died annually from indoor air pollution in Nigeria, making it to be third killer after malaria and HIV/AIDs.

Mallam, who stated this while declaring open, the Clean Cooking Energy Expo and Conference organized by the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, in Abuja, added that the project would also address problem of deforestation in the country.

According to her, “When the government announced the procurement of clean stoves, it generated a lot of arguments on why government should vote such an amount for the project.

“There are reasons for the government to get involved in this project; it is to protect our forest and also to improve health condition of our women and children by decreasing indoor air pollution.

“Millions of women and children died annually due to inhalation of smoke. The importance of tree to our environment cannot be over emphasized, that is talking about climate change.”