Ola Oresanya, the Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, revealed the increased in prices of liquefied natural gas is affecting the government’s efforts to reduce deforestation and save the environment.

From the news gathered, he noted that some bakeries had resorted to the local oven, which allows the use of firewood to bake bread, saying that would negatively impact tree-planting efforts across the country.

“Some bakeries have started using wood as we talk; bakeries that were using electricity and gas before have started using firewood for baking. It is really going to affect the environment,” he said.

Oresanya said, the use of firewood for cooking would encourage tree felling, which exposes the environment to the impacts of climate change.

“If gas is scarce or not affordable, the next thing is going to be firewood or charcoal, and these are offshoots of deforestation. So, it is going to aggravate deforestation, because people must survive.

“Gas has been the alternative energy source to reduce deforestation. So, with the scarcity of gas, people doing mass cooking, like caterers and food vendors, will start looking towards firewood. Firewood will start selling again,” he noted.

Wakadaily learnt that, the price of LPG has continued to increase from N300/kg in 2017, averaging N1,200 in February 2024.

This includes the hardship being experienced as a result of subsidy removal and decreased of naira has caused Nigerians to go back to their traditional ways of cooking by using fire wood.

Also, Oresanya knows that the high price of diesel had also make firewood more expensive, noting that there was little difference between firewood and LPG.

“As it is, the firewood is now even more expensive; the cost of moving firewood from the forest into town is making it expensive. Over the weekend, we analysed the cost of firewood and the cost of gas, the difference is not much again. Diesel is now about N1,700 per litre. So, how much are you going to sell the firewood?” he stressed .

According to the commissioner, it is going to affect the deforestation programme of government, “because in areas where we have started planting trees, people will be tempted to cut trees that are nearest to them and when you start doing that, all the trees that are supposed to help us reduce ozone-depleting substances, such as carbon dioxide, will not be there and they are going to increase the carbon footprint in the air”.

Speaking on the effects of wood burning, Oresanya stressed: “When you burn wood, it releases more carbon monoxide. There is no way it will not cause pollution; it is going to reduce carbon emissions through reduction strategies. It will impact negatively on the availability of oxygen and the quality of air in the atmosphere.”

He said the solution was to ensure that the government makes cooking gas available and affordable.

According to the International Energy Agency IEA, nothing less than 500,000 African women die prematurely per year from cooking with firewood, charcoal, or stoves.

The International Energy Agency said African women and their children lost their lives due to a lack of access to clean cooking.