Ten thousand households in Abuja now have a gas cylinder and a refill voucher they did not have last November.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration and IHS Nigeria wrapped up Project Breathe Clean Air Abuja on Thursday with a closing event at the Bwari Mini Stadium. The kits went to 18 communities across the FCT’s six Area Councils. IHS Nigeria sponsored the project, which launched in November 2025.
Mariya Mahmud, the FCT’s Minister of State, was represented at the ceremony by Maijida Kuku. The aim, she said, was to cut respiratory illness caused by indoor air pollution by getting families onto clean cooking fuel. Women and children bear the most smoke from firewood, charcoal and kerosene. Wider use of LPG, she added, would help public health, the environment and efforts against climate change.
Why the project started
Dr Adedolapo Fasawe, Mandate Secretary of the FCT Health Services and Environment Secretariat, said doctors had been seeing more respiratory tract infections in women and more respiratory allergies in children. Both were tied to long hours spent in smoke from traditional cooking fuels.
What the sensors found
The project did not stop at handing out cylinders. Handheld air sensors went into 30 households in Kurudu and Pyakasa. Before the switch, homes burning firewood and charcoal had fine particulate levels above the World Health Organisation’s recommended limits. Follow-up checks after families moved to LPG showed significant improvement, according to Fasawe.
She said the readings give the administration local evidence for policy on clean energy, air quality and public health. The FCTA has also bought two outdoor sensors to produce real-time data for planning.
Teams from the FCTA and IHS Nigeria also ran community campaigns on using gas safely.
Schools, clinics and the company’s view
Pupils and students received educational materials on sustainability and healthy living, and pregnant women got baby care kits.
Dapo Otunla, IHS Nigeria’s Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Services Officer, spoke for chief executive Mohamed Darwish. He described the project as part of the company’s sustainability commitment and said it supports a move away from biomass fuels, with lower carbon emissions and better air quality.
Dr Ayuba Usman, a clinical and radiation oncologist at the National Hospital Abuja, called the programme a critical public health intervention that could lower the incidence of lung cancer and other respiratory disease. She urged governments, development partners and private organisations to back similar prevention work.
Sources
- FCTA, IHS distribute 10,000 cooking gas cylinders to households – Naturenews.africa
- FCTA, IHS distribute 10,000 LPG cylinders to curb air pollution
