The President gave the directive recently during a meeting with the permanent Secretary of the ministry, Ms. Fatima Mede.

Deforestation has been one of the major environmental challenges facing Nigeria and the reason is not farfetched. 

Owing to the high cost and sometimes, nonavailability of kerosene or other fossil fuels sources in Nigeria, locals have mainly turned to firewood as their alternative to cooking fuel or gas. This had led to massive deforestation of Nigeria's forest resources in a very high rate such that if not abated now, will really endanger the country's forest and wildlife resources.

Evident to this fact is desert encroachment in some parts of Nigeria, especially in the North, occasioned by excessive deforestation. 

In 2011, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture ranked Nigeria worst globally in terms of deforestation saying it had lost 400,000 hectares of forest land to deforestation.

Nigeria has 10 million hectares of forest land which represents about 10 percent of her total land mass going way below the Food and Agricultural Organization(FAO) recommended minimum national standard of 25 percent.

But then, is the government's idea to promote the use of LPG a great one?

The LPG looks is really a nice idea. They are purer and a clean source of energy for cooking.

Infact, Total website said this on LPG, "It is a clean-burning fuel whose combustion generates no unburned residues, particulates or soot, and releases less greenhouse gas than the other fossil fuels.

Its high calorific value allows latest-generation power plants to achieve high energy efficiency using cogeneration or combined cycle configurations, limiting both energy consumption and atmospheric emissions. On the strength of these advantages, the share of natural gas in power generation is projected to rise from 20% in 2004 to nearly 25% in 2030".

But then, accessibility is key here. LPGs are known to be pretty expensive and hence difficult for a majority of the Nigerian populace to consistently buy. Even the government are aware of the difficulty as they admitted that it will be tough to implement the idea in villages hence the reason why their efforts on the LPGs will be concentrated on the cities probably, for now. If the Nigerian refineries can produce enough of the LPGs, then, it will go a long way to help too.

We just need to find solutions to our deforestation challenges and this is a nice step by the government. Planting of trees remains the easiest way for everyone to get involved though.

I can't say enough how happy I am to see this new government touching these neglected environmental issues with deserved attention. I hope the best is yet to come.

Photo 1: timeslive.co.za