•Is the N9.2 billion budgeted for energy-saving stoves and Wonderbags well-spent?
The announcement that the Federal Government is to spend N9.2 billion on clean-cook stoves and Wonderbags for Nigeria’s rural women, as part of its National Clean Cooking Scheme (NCCS), throws up several conflicting responses.
On the surface, it appears a welcome intervention in the lives of a much-neglected segment of the populace; and a long-overdue step in reducing desertification, global warming and disease.
On the other hand, however, it is at best, a blatant attempt to curry votes in the forthcoming general election; and at worst, a slush fund to be used in purchasing votes in the polls.
Perhaps the first bone of contention has to do with the manner in which it was conceived. How did the Federal Government arrive at the conclusion that the purchase of 750,000 clean-cook stoves and 18,000 Wonderbags is the most pressing need confronting rural women at the present time?
Such a decision obviously requires the input of those it is meant to benefit; yet there is no evidence that any need assessment surveys were conducted among rural women anywhere in the country.
Which rural women’s groups and non-governmental organizations were contacted by officials of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs? What recommendations and suggestions did rural women or their representatives make?
Such questions make the scheme reminiscent of the attempt to make 10 million mobile phones available to farmers in January 2013, which was criticised for its opacity and lack of consideration for the actual needs of peasant farmers.
If indeed rural women were not fully consulted on the clean stove initiative, then the scheme smacks of the arrogant paternalism of a Federal Government which thinks it knows more about those it purports to govern than they know about themselves.
Then, there is the issue of whether the initiative was properly thought out. What kind of fuel will the clean-cook stoves be using? How is it to be sourced, and by whom?
Even though the stoves themselves are to be distributed without charge, will the fuel also be free? What happens when stoves are damaged? On what basis will the stoves and Wonderbags be delivered, given the fact that different geographical zones will have different but competing requirements?
The clean-cook stoves are to be locally assembled; it is assumed that the Wonderbags will be imported. Both are to be delivered in 12 weeks. Such projections assume superlative efficiencies which are unheard of in the Nigerian environment.
What is the guarantee that this timeline will be met, and what are the sanctions in the almost-certain case of failure?
It is particularly noteworthy that the period just happens to coincide with that of the elections, thereby giving rise to the question of whether it is actually being deployed as an electoral bribe, a more sophisticated version of the “stomach infrastructure” strategy that was so successfully used in Ekiti State in June.
In the particular case of Wonderbags, it is surprising that the Federal Government has chosen not to replicate the successful experience of South Africa, where costs were kept down by working with a multinational company which elected to distribute it for free upon purchase of specific products.
In the Nigerian case, it appears to be a wholly government-owned scheme, with all the risks of administrative inefficiency, sleaze, rampant corruption, impunity and ultimate failure.
In addition to the many unanswered questions surrounding the clean-cook stoves and Wonderbags, there is the fact that their use will not address the fundamental issues that have stared the country’s rural women in the face for so long: stable electricity, cheap and affordable kerosene, cottage industries and small-scale enterprises, the construction of good roads.
It is only when these developments occur, in conjunction with one another that the lot of the long-suffering rural women will truly improve.
