Zainab Salisu has been using firewood to cook her family's meals and run her bean cake small business for many years. The married mother of two who lives in Jahi, a suburb in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, says the traditional style of cooking is what her "family can afford." However, she also admits that it's taking a toll on her health.

"I don't enjoy using firewood at all," she told DW. "Sometimes, I feel dizzy like I am going to collapse, and the smoke always chokes me; the heat emanating from it is also a challenge…(sighs) There are days I feel like I am going to vomit."

Zainab is one of more than 160 million Nigerians who use firewood, charcoal, and other harmful biomass for daily cooking and business, according to World Bank data from 2023. The organization says many Nigerian women suffer from health issues caused by prolonged exposure to firewood smoke.

In a statement sent to DW News, the World Health Organization (WHO) stressed that cooking with biomass fuels is one of the "most overlooked public health emergencies" in Africa.

"The smoke generated contains extremely high levels of fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅), carbon monoxide, black carbon, benzene, and other toxic pollutants that penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream," the WHO statement warned, adding that these exposures could lead to pneumonia in children, chronic respiratory and cardiovascular disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and preventable mortality.

Impact on the environment

Unhealthy cooking practices also have a direct impact on the environment, fuelling deforestation as firewood and charcoal are sourced from felled trees.

According to the latest Universal Access to Clean Cooking Africa report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), harmful cooking habits harm health, economic development, education and the environment. It contributes to an estimated 815,000 premature deaths annually in Africa alone, due to the health impacts of household air pollution.

Additionally, IEA says the lack of clean cooking is "linked to the loss of 1.3 million hectares of forest each year, diminishing a key resource for the continent." The Nigerian government says the country loses an estimated 400 hectares of land each year to deforestation, calling it an "environmental and economic crisis."

However, the IEA, in its report, says that over the past five years, key countries in sub-Saharan Africa accelerated their efforts to address the clean cooking gap, with countries like Kenya and Nigeria extending access to 2.7% of their populations annually. Africa's most populous country is now making an ambitious push to meet its universal clean cooking access target by 2030.

"Transitioning to clean cooking is not optional, it is urgent if Nigeria and other African countries are to protect women and children, reduce preventable deaths, safeguard the environment, and meet the 2030 development and climate goals," WHO says.

Promoting clean cooking in rural areas

Clean cook stoves are being given to people in rural communities, as part of the National Policy on clean cooking, says Ibrahim Haruna, the Director of Information and Public Relations, at the Ministry of the Environment.

"It's one of the government's initiatives on climate change. The target is to distribute clean cook stoves to people in rural areas across 10 states. So that the women there will avoid health risks. We are also creating public awareness on how to use the stoves."

But there is still a huge gap in Nigeria, a nation with more than 240 million people. Women like Zainab seem hardly aware of the initiative. "I don't even know if there is something called clean cook stoves, so I don't have it. If there's a safer alternative that I can afford, of course, I would like that," she says.

Those who have not benefited from the free clean cook stove distribution, like 60-year-old Grace Adunola, have had to buy from private manufacturers who subsidize their products for Nigerians. The mother of five said she has used charcoal for cooking for 15 years, and a bag of coal would last for two weeks if she cooked twice daily.

"I really suffered all those years. It was slow in cooking my food because of the delay of the heat spreading, so I had to use a hand-fan to blow it, but that would produce a lot of smoke, and I would start coughing," Adunola told DW.

She bought the clean cook stove for roughly $10 ( approximately €8) three years ago and says it cooks faster. "I now use just half a bag of charcoal monthly, and I cook twice daily, too. It is safer because it doesn't bring out smoke. Iam also saving money now. I like it a lot."

Clean stoves are still out of reach for many Nigerians

But many Nigerians can't afford to spend $10 on clean cook stoves. In the last quarter of 2025, the World Bank said at least 139 million Nigerians are still living in poverty despite economic reforms.

"The state government has its own clean cook stoves distribution drive and the national government is only complementing their efforts," Mr Haruna of the Ministry of the Environment says. "Private partners are also supporting us. We will continue to produce more free clean stoves specifically for rural dwellers.

"The president is making all efforts for Nigeria to meet the set target," Haruna added.

One of the easiest ways to transition the majority of the population to clean cooking is by gas, says Olumide Fagbuji, the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Climate Technology and Operations and Presidential Co-Chair of the Clean Cooking Alliance. "We know the challenge is expanding the infrastructure, access and affordability, but that's what our Decade of Gas initiative is focused on at the moment," he told DW.

The government recently launched the Nigeria Carbon Market Activation Policy (NCMAP), a new Tax Reform Act aimed at decarbonizing the economy and providing tax incentives, including a 10-year tax holiday on carbon credit revenue.

"It's a modest aspiration. We have more than enough to meet our target if we stay on course and work very closely with the private sector," says Fagbuji. Although significant progress has been made, the question remains if it's enough to help Nigeria meet its 2030 target, for the sake of people like Zainab.

"If the government could provide cooking gas for people like me, I would be very happy," Zainab said, adding that she lacks the money to buy a gas cooker. "That is why I am using firewood because it's cheaper."

Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu