Category: Sunday magazine

…Residents fall trees in forest reserve for firewood

In June 2013, the former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki who was then the Senate Committee Chairman on Environment and Ecology declared that

Nigeria’s daily firewood consumption stands at 266 million kg.

Saraki said this at the unveiling of the “Face of the Earth Africa (FOTEA)’’ to commemorate the 2013 World Environmental Day.

The senator said such consumption was too enormous for the country’s forests to bear, and could lead to deforestation which could also be dangerous for the uplift of the economy.

According to an article published by the University of Science and Technology, Aliero, Birnin Kebbi in June 2023, Nigeria has the potential to generate 12,522 MW of electricity, but can only dispatch 4000 MW, which is insufficient for a population of over 200 million people as of 2022. Therefore, Nigerians use solid fuels including firewood and charcoal as an alternative to insufficient electricity for domestic use. The consumption of firewood and charcoal in Nigeria is estimated at 23,745,458 tons and 4,828,689 tons, respectively in 2021, by far the most consumed domestic solid fuel sources in Nigeria. Although there are domestic solid fuel alternatives, such as dung, agricultural residues and coal, to firewood and wood charcoal, their sustainable adoption has been slow in Nigeria, indicating that there is insufficient knowledge of domestic solid fuel sources.

In Gombe, 99 percent of citizens rely on using firewood to cook their foods according to the state commissioner for Environment, Water and forest resources, Ahmed Saidu Muhammed Fau.

Gombe, like most Northern states, is a semi-arid region with few trees to protect the soil from desertification.

Fau who spoke at the training of 400 artisans, scavengers and selected individuals on climate change, fabrication of efficient stoves and briquettes from farm produce wastes organised by the North East Development Commission NEDC said governments and stakeholders must go beyond rhetorics to engage the communities in advocacy to point out to them the dangers of falling down trees without replacing them.

“I can say that 99 percent of Gombe citizens rely on using firewood or charcoal to cook their foods. Now, there are many ways of producing charcoal from farm bye products like rice shaft, coconut shell, maize husk and others. The government and agencies like NEDC will have to come together and buy these machines and provide them at strategic areas. The moment people know that there is an alternative to falling down trees, I am very sure they will imbibe that culture.

“Although we may not achieve these hundred percent, it will take us somewhere. It’s just like what we did in stopping smoking. Not many people think smoking can be stopped in public places but now it has virtually been achieved. So I believe that with strong commitment and unity of purpose, we will get there,” he said.

He said it is very painful when you drive around and you see the amount of destruction that has been done with regard to the falling of trees but regretted that governments and other stakeholders have not provided an alternative to them.

“The use of firewood is all about the poverty level of the people and that is just it. We can’t expect everybody to use gas or kerosene for cooking because not everyone can afford it. Even if these products are distributed free to the people, would they have money to continue purchasing them? So yes, what has happened in the country in the past and what are happening now have roles to play. This is everybody’s responsibility, it’s not only the governments that have to shoulder it,” he said.

Gombe State with it’s 3.9 million population is one of the highest firewood consuming states in the country even though it is battling with heavy gully erosion sites that have almost consumed major institutions in the state like Gombe State University, GSU and high brow area like the GRA in the state capital.

Beyond the extremely poor purchasing power of the citizen fossil fuel like LPG and kerosene for cooking, the state is also grappling with a huge number of illiterate population who do not know how to use LPG.

Recently, Gombe State University had to ban the use of gas in the school following the burning of a hostel by the students. Similarly, because of the several cases of burn recorded from gas explosion and the high cost of purchasing it, many are also reluctant to switch to the use of gas as an alternative to firewood.

“When the state university banned the use of gas in hostels in the campus, they allow the use of kerosene but this further worsen the situation for already impoverished students community,” said Ahmad, a student of GSU.

He said with the high cost of kerosene, students are forced to completely abstain from cooking beans, the most popular food for students.

“We are limited to cooking only spaghetti, noodles and rice because those ones take lesser minutes to prepare in addition to the fact that it will save us more kerosene,” he said.

Selling of firewood is a booming business in Gombe and it’s not limited to the lower class alone. At highbrow areas like the GRA and Federal Low Cost, firewood are supplied daily to residents for cooking.

“Before, a bunch of firewood cut into ten pieces or less is sold for N60 but now the price has increased to N120,” said Malam Bello Sanni.

Sanni said he has been in the firewood business for more than 35 years and it is what he depends on to feed his two wives and twelve children.

He said he got up to five trucks of firewood every week and are not even enough to meet the demands.

When asked about planting trees to replace those cut for firewood, Sanni said he knew nothing about that as he was not the one cutting the trees from the forest.

Mohammed Segiru, the chairman of firewood traders said he has been in the business for 30 years.

According to him, another bunch of firewood bigger than the smaller one used to be sold for N100 before but it has gone up to N300 now.

He said people in Gombe prefer using firewood to cook than kerosene because kerosene is now expensive and not even available. Segiru added that the quantity of firewood consumed by a household depend on the size of the household.

According to him, ebony and neem trees are in high demand because they burn fast like gas.

For a state facing the challenge of deforestation, firewood is increasingly becoming scarce in Gombe and the traders have to go as far as Bauchi state to get the firewood.

“We go as far as Bajoga, Dukku or Bara in Bauchi state to get all these firewoods,” he said.

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On the other hand, Muhammed Adamu said he could not use firewood to cook in his house because his wife is asthmatic.

“I use charcoal because my wife is asthmatic and cannot use firewood . If we even use small firewood, she will run into crisis and end up in hospital. Before we used to buy a bag of charcoal N650 or N700 but now the price has risen up to N5000. Now is I buy the N100 one it cannot cook more than just two times. My wife cannot use gas because she comes from the village and does not know how to use it. There was a time our neighbor’s house was set ablaze by someone using gas. A lot of our people here are illiterates and so using gas may be very difficult and the fear of using gas is another thing,” he said.

He said the rates at which prices of food items and other commodities are rising has further worsen the poverty level in Gombe.

Adamu Bulus, a civil servant in the state lamented that that as a graduate he receives only N38,000 per month.

“And that was because of the N10,000 increased across board for all civil servants, before my take home pay was just N28, 000.”

According to him, the poor remuneration of civil servants in the state is not helping the matter at all.

“That is why even people like us who knows better have no choice than to use firewood or charcoal instead of gas. Also, if you don’t know how to farm, there is no way you can sustain decent life here in Gombe with just N38,000 salary,” said Bulus.

Madam Sofia Maina, a food vendor at Station said she cannot use kerosene or gas because they are too expensive for her.

“How much am I making a day?” She asked. “If I have to use any of the two then I will make no profit at all.”

Although the state government embarked on a 3G afforestation project aimed at planting trees across the state, the rates at which men are falling trees everyday is obviously counter productive to such projects.

Already, the Kanawa forest reserve in Kwadon near Gombe is a victim of the indiscriminate falling of trees for firewood. The forest well known for its mangrove trees in a subsaharan climate is fast disappearing sure to the uncontrol and negligence on the part of the authority in charge.

Similarly, dry season farmers have also taken over the reserve, sharing the farmland and falling the trees to pave way for sunlight on their farms.