Lagos, Nigeria – As lunchtime approaches in the bustling city of Lagos, Shola Adeyemi, a satisfied customer of Kike Technologies’ biofuel, pours biofuel gel into her stove.
Nigeria’s soaring cost of living has made traditional cooking gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), increasingly unaffordable for many households.
A recent market survey revealed that the price of a 12.5 kg gas cylinder has surged from N10,000 at the end of October to N12,500.
In the northern Lagos suburb of Idi Mangoro, Shola Adeyemi reflects on her decade-long use of biofuel, a sustainable alternative to traditional cooking methods. “I’ve been using it since about 2014.
A friend gave me one to try, and it was so nice. It cooks fast, doesn’t darken your pot, and the odour is pleasant,” she shares.
The affordability and efficiency of biofuel have become increasingly crucial as households seek alternatives to combat rising living costs.
For Adeyemi, biofuel has proven to be a reliable solution to the challenges posed by expensive and inaccessible cooking gas.
Kike Technologies, a pioneering force in green biofuels, offers an environmentally friendly ethanol gel as a safe alternative to traditional biomass energy.
Lilian Aremu, the co-founder of Kike Technologies, highlights the adverse health effects of biomass burning, which affects around 21 million Nigerian households, leading to respiratory diseases and premature deaths.
Femi Oye, the CEO and co-founder, has a personal connection to the cause. Oye’s grandmother succumbed to lung cancer caused by years of cooking with firewood.
Aremu notes, “So many other women have died, some have lost their eyesight, and children have died too.” In response to this, Kike Technologies was founded in 2012, and since then, they have sold one million stoves, priced between 14 to 21 dollars each.
While biofuels offer a cleaner and safer alternative, many experts argue that government intervention is crucial in reducing the dependence on biomass.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been actively working on developing quality standards for bioethanol, both for cooking and transportation purposes.
“With biofuel, it is clean, safe, and affordable. The disposable income of an average Nigerian is in crisis already, so everyone is looking at the cheapest way to survive,” emphasizes Aremu.
Despite the benefits of biofuels, the harsh economic reality, with inflation soaring at 27%, forces some households to continue relying on wood or coal burning as a more cost-effective albeit less sustainable option.
As the demand for sustainable alternatives grows, government bodies and regional organizations become crucial in supporting initiatives that provide clean and affordable cooking solutions, ensuring the well-being of Nigerian households and the environment.
This article was created using automation technology and was thoroughly edited and fact-checked by one of our editorial staff members
