Nigeria experiences a tremendous paradox – the abundance of energy resources and widespread poverty. The country is home to 102 million extreme poor – one-in-four of Sub Sahara Africa’s total. It is also the region’s largest exporter of crude oil.
Today, low access to energy services accounts, in part, for the slow progress against poverty in the country. Only about 40 per cent of the Nigerian population have access to the country’s broken electricity grid.
About 95 million rely on traditional use of wood energy for cooking. According to the World Health Organisation, 79,000 Nigerians die each year as a result of smoke from three stone fires. After malaria and HIV/AIDS, this is the largest killer in the country.
