By Akpan David, Calabar
What many Nigerian families regard as the scent of daily cooking may, in fact, be the slow poison claiming thousands of lives each year.
According to Cross River First Lady, Mrs. Eyoanwan Bassey Otu, an estimated 95,000 women and children die annually from inhaling smoke generated while cooking with firewood.
Speaking during a sensitisation drive at her office in Calabar, Mrs. Otu lamented that the common practice of cooking with biomass fuels has quietly evolved into a major public health crisis. She said smoke from traditional stoves is now ranked as the third leading cause of death in Nigeria, after malaria and HIV/AIDS.
Represented by Mrs. Asi Akiba, wife of a federal lawmaker, Mrs. Otu described the kitchen as “a battlefield for millions of mothers and children,” where unseen toxins shorten lives daily. She emphasised that while the effects may be slow, the toll is devastating — both on human health and the environment.
The First Lady linked household air pollution to deforestation and climate change, explaining that the incomplete burning of firewood releases black carbon, a powerful heat-trapping pollutant. “Every log of firewood burned not only harms the lungs but also warms the planet,” she said.
As part of the intervention, her office distributed 200 improved cookstoves and energy-saving pots designed to reduce smoke emissions and fuel use. The initiative, she said, aims to safeguard the health of rural families while preserving forest resources.
Chairman of the Green Economy Commission, Mr. Oden Ewa, who also spoke at the event, said millions of Nigerian households remain dependent on biomass for cooking — a reality that continues to fuel deforestation and respiratory illnesses. He cited World Health Organization data that ranks indoor air pollution among the world’s leading causes of premature deaths.
Ewa urged both government and private stakeholders to scale up cleaner cooking technologies nationwide, insisting that “the war against environmental degradation begins from the kitchen.”
The campaign, Mrs. Otu noted, is part of wider efforts by the state to promote sustainable living, improve public health, and reduce poverty through energy efficiency and environmental education.
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