Patterns and determinants of household cooking fuel choice in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria's pledges to the UN sustainable development goals include the adoption of clean, low-carbon alternative energy sources to satisfy its domestic energy demands, in order to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Sadly, despite these pledges and the government's investments in clean cooking energy infrastructure, data indicates that countrywide cooking emissions have been rising. Adoption of clean cooking fuels is slow due to lack of access to modern fuels, low households income and low education. Thus, by adapting the theoretical framework of the neoclassical theory of consumer behaviour, this study seeks to investigate the patterns and determinants of household cooking fuel choice in Nigeria. Data for this investigation was sourced from the 2015/16 and 2018/19 waves of the National Household Survey, conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in conjunction with the World Bank. A multinomial response model was adopted for the estimation of factors influencing household cooking fuel choice. Our results show that income, fuel accessibility, household size, and education, are significant determinants of household cooking fuel choice. Policymakers could target these factors (variables) in order to mitigate the negative effects of traditional cooking fuels. Therefore, given the realities of Nigeria's high current dependence on fuel wood, it is recommended that financing support for clean-burning cook stoves and cooking gas canisters may be necessary in the interim to provide cleaner alternatives for low-income households predominantly using biomass for cooking in order to reduce their immediate exposure to indoor air pollution. The main contribution of this study is its integration of the role of fuel accessibility and supply-side factors into the fuel choice modelling, contrary to the existing framework, which focuses mainly on demand-side factors.