Bwari (FCT)- An NGO, Connected Development (CODE), has called for an open investigation into the Clean Cook-Stove N9. 287 billion project by the immediate past administration of the Federal Government.
Mr Hamzat Lawal, the Chief Executive of CODE, made the call in statement in Bwari, FCT on Monday
In Nigeria, over 20 million households and about 122 million Nigerians depend primarily on wood as a source of fuel for cooking.
This is despite the abundance of modern cooking energy sources including natural gas.
This traditional cooking method is expensive, has negative impact on health and contributes to deforestation.
In North East Nigeria, IDPs are facing severe challenges in meeting their basic needs including access to cooking energy and fuels.
Fetching of firewood around camps and host communities often lead to conflict and increases the chance of gender-based violence against women.
However, the NGO acknowledged the fact that the House of Representatives’ established Anti-corruption, Environment and Habitat Committee to investigate how the fund was spent.
He said that the consequent probe should, however, be an open and transparent one.
“We believe that such an investigation will trigger proper sanctions for those that compromised the rule of law in the process of the project meant for rural poor women.
“Till today, we have not seen any single beneficiary of the cook-stoves. Where are the 45,000 stoves that were procured.
“We call on the committee to conduct the investigation in an open forum to enable all relevant stakeholders participate, give feedback and share their findings to ensure transparency.”
He said that although the funds were disbursed, more should be done to account for stoves that were already procured.
“Out of the N9.2 billion, the Federal Ministry of Finance only released N5 billion to the Ministry of Environment.
“The ministry of environment only released 1.3 billion naira (15 per cent) of the funds to the contractor of the project, Integrated Renewable Energy Services Limited.”
The project was designed to provide clean cook-stoves for rural women under the auspices of the federal ministry of environment.
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