Across communities in the FCT, a quiet but significant transformation is taking place in thousands of homes. Kitchens once filled with smoke from firewood, charcoal and kerosene are gradually giving way to cleaner, safer and healthier cooking with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Through the Project Breathe Clean Air Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), working through the Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES), in partnership with IHS Nigeria (Towers of Strength), has successfully distributed more than 10,000 cooking gas cylinders to vulnerable households across the six area councils of the FCT.
More than a cooking gas intervention, the initiative has become a public health programme, an environmental sustainability project and a social protection scheme that is improving the quality of life of women and their families.
For decades, many low-income households depended on firewood, charcoal and kerosene as their primary cooking fuels. Medical experts have consistently warned that prolonged exposure to indoor smoke contributes to respiratory illnesses, asthma, pneumonia, persistent cough, eye irritation and other health complications, particularly among women and children who spend the most time around cooking areas.
