The Enugu State Government says it is targeting training and empowering initial 1,000 youths on fabrication of the Made in Enugu innovative green energy and safe cooking stove.
The stove, also known as Enugu Stove, is designed 100 percent with local content and uses smokeless-cum-odourless coal briquettes to produce sustained heat for cooking.
The state’s Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Lawrence Eze, disclosed this to newsmen in Enugu on Thursday.
Eze said that the internship (training) would be done in collaboration with Scientific Equipment Development Institute (SEDI) to maintain the original design and standard of the green energy stove.
The commissioner said that the training would be done in 2026 after the first initial 150,000 unit production of the stove; while those to be trained would be empowered with start-up packs at the end.
He said that his ministry would create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) or a commercial arm to oversee the collaboration with SEDI and the four coal briquette producing factories (one in each senatorial zone).
According to him, with the innovative green energy and safe stove, the ministry will be turned into a revenue generating ministry and that will be a legacy I shall be leaving behind.
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“The stove and other laudable initiatives by His Excellency, Dr Peter Mbah, are meant to uplift the economic and living standard of our people in meeting the target of increasing the state’s GDP from $4.4 billion to $30 billion.
“We are branding it ‘Made in Enugu’ in order to project the ‘Enugu Brand’ just as we have Enugu Air, Enugu Rice and other Enugu brands to come.
“The branding will set out our state’s products/programmes and their quality and uniqueness different from others anywhere it is found in the country, Africa and worldwide.
“The Enugu Stove is an innovative green energy and safe cooking stove meant to secure Nigeria and Africa from deforestation and ecology losses due to felling of trees for firewood and air pollution while producing charcoal,” he said.
Eze said that the stove also eliminates the frustration in having cooking disrupted due to running out of gas or kerosene and one running to his/her neighbours for help at odd hours.
The commissioner said that with the stove coming on stream, the state government would intensify its campaign against cutting and falling of trees and producing charcoal in the state.
“Within years, due to a better safety, economic and environmental benefits of the stove, most residents in the country will stop using other alternatives for cooking,” he added.
