By Okeoghene Akubuike
THE NATIONAL Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says about 67.8 per cent of Nigerian households use firewood as a source of energy for domestic, agricultural, commercial, cultural, or religious purposes.
The NBS made the declaration in its Nigeria Residential Energy Demand-Side Survey (NREDSS) 2024 unveiled on Wednesday in Abuja.
The report said that the states covered for the survey were carefully selected across the six geo-political zones of the country and include Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ekiti, Oyo, Enugu, Kwara, Plateau, Kano, and Sokoto.
The report revealed that about 41 per cent of households reported purchasing firewood, which was closely followed by those who cut/collected at 39 per cent.
“While 18.9 per cent of households used other means such as barter, gift, borrowing, etc. More than half of the fuelwood cut/collected by households, 55.3 per cent were branches, stems, and trees.”
It said that one in every five households which accounted for 22 per cent used charcoal during the reference period.
The report said among households using charcoal, 21.6 per cent purchased the product, and only 0.3 and 0.6 per cent acquired it through their own production, and other means respectively.
The NBS said that 19.4 per cent of households reported using Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) during the reference period.
“This means that about one in every five households use LPG. The average monthly expenditure on LPG stood at N10,239.7 across the surveyed states.”
The report showed that over 58 per cent of households are connected to the national grid across the nine states surveyed, and 86.6 per cent had electricity supply during the reference period.
It said out of the total households connected to the national grid, 85.2 per cent used an estimated billing system while 14.8 per cent reported using a pre-paid billing system.
The report said in addition, the average monthly expenditure of households on electricity was estimated at N4,155.8 during the reference period.
The NBS said from the report it is recommended that following the wide use of fuelwood, the government should promote the re-planting of trees and the use of clean energy such as LPG, wind, solar etc.
“This will help to reduce environmental problems such as air pollution, water pollution, climate change, thermal pollution, and solid waste disposal.
The report also recommended that the government should encourage the establishment of more LPG stations and local production of gas cylinders and other accessories with added value.
“This will help to lower the end-user’s cost, and optimise electricity generation by decentralising the national grid through mini-grids.”
The NBS said the objectives of the survey were to assess household energy consumption, evaluate access to electricity, analyse residential appliances and usage and provide valuable insights for policymakers, industry players and the government.
It said in the surveyed states, 900 households from each state were interviewed making a total of 8,100 households across urban and rural areas. (NAN)
