Nigeria Needs More Capital For Clean Cooking Transition — Minister

The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, has called for increased investment in Nigeria’s clean cooking sector, saying the country needs substantially more capital to accelerate the transition from traditional cooking fuels to cleaner energy sources.

Lawal said financing must be diversified to address the scale of the challenge and expand access to affordable cooking technologies, particularly for low-income households.

The minister spoke at the Nigeria Clean Cooking Forum 2026, themed “Clean Cooking Energy Nigeria: Unlocking and Diversifying Finance for Nigeria’s Clean Cooking Transition”, in Abuja on Wednesday.

Represented by the Deputy Director of Climate Change in the ministry, Enebong Abiola, the minister said the government would work with relevant ministries, state governments, development partners and private-sector operators to advance the transition.

“We must acknowledge a fundamental reality: ambition without finance will not deliver clean transformation,” he said.

Lawal urged international development institutions to provide technical expertise, concessional financing, guarantees and risk-sharing instruments to support clean cooking projects.

He also called on financial institutions to recognise clean cooking as an emerging investment market rather than merely a social intervention.

According to him, the sector offers investment opportunities in manufacturing, distribution, technology, carbon finance, consumer finance and energy services.

The minister said clean cooking was not only an energy issue but also a public health and environmental concern.

He noted that Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan identified clean cooking as one of the five critical components of the country’s pathway to net-zero emissions by 2060.

He said the plan envisaged a shift from traditional cooking fuels to liquefied petroleum gas, improved biomass technologies, biogas and electric cooking.

Lawal added that the Federal Government’s commitment was reflected in Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution 3.0, recently submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

He stressed that the transition must take into account the needs of women, low-income families and communities with limited access to affordable energy.

“The clean cooking transition must be people-centred, gender-inclusive and must also understand the long hours women spend sourcing for fuel, consider affordability for low-income families, and also ensure that the solutions are appropriate for rural women and also for urban communities,” he said.

The minister called for coordinated investments to move the sector beyond discussions and isolated projects.

“There is a need for collective commitment to move from discussions to action, from projects to programmes, and from fragmented financing to coordinated investments,” he said.

He urged stakeholders to support the government’s efforts to translate clean cooking ambitions into measurable action.

“Clean cooking is not merely about Nigerians cooking. It’s about Nigerians building,” he added.

Earlier, the Executive Director of the International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cooking ,Ewa Otu Eleri ,said rising energy costs were forcing some households to abandon cleaner cooking fuels.

He blamed the affordability crisis on the removal of the fuel subsidy and global energy disruptions, which he said had pushed energy prices higher.

He said some families in urban and semi-urban areas that had switched from firewood and charcoal to liquefied petroleum gas were returning to traditional fuels.

“Families in urban and semi-urban areas who have moved from charcoal and wood to using LPG over the past two or three years, we have seen these families climbing down the clean energy ladder, going back to wood,” he said.

The alliance executive described the development as a setback to efforts to expand access to cleaner cooking options.

He said the organisation had prioritised affordability and access for vulnerable households, adding that carbon-market financing could help reduce the cost of clean cooking for poor families.

He also disclosed that more than 20 million tonnes of units from approximately 26 million tonnes covered by approved letters of authorisation were linked to clean cooking projects.

Meanwhile, the Country Director of GIZ Nigeria and ECOWAS, Dr Markus Wagner, said the German government and the European Union were supporting the development of training modules for the Siemens Energy Training Institute in Abuja through the NSP programme.

Wagner, represented by Joshua Garb, said the initiative was aimed at supporting technical training in Nigeria’s energy sector.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Agency, Habiba Balarabe Suleiman, said clean cooking was essential to building healthier and more resilient communities.

She called for affordable technologies, sustainable financing, private-sector investment and stronger public-private partnerships.

Suleiman also urged stakeholders to promote local clean cooking enterprises, create jobs and ensure that women and young people benefited from the transition.

She called on participants to move beyond discussions and make practical commitments capable of delivering lasting benefits to Nigerian households.