ANALYSIS OF HOUSEHOLD DOMESTIC COOKING ENERGY POVERTY COPING STRATEGIES IN MINNA, NIGER STATE.

Abstract

One of the effects of urbanization is the pressure it mounts on urban households’ livelihood facilities which includes energy. This leads to an inflation situation where the energy demands outweighs supply in terms of availability and affordability. Domestic energy poverty occasioned by acute shortages and frequent price fluctuation have compelled households in Minna , especially those in low and medium income categories, to adopt various coping methods in energy utilization. The study seeks to analyze households coping strategy in the face of domestic cooking energy poverty in Minna. Energy access, poverty and services formed the conceptual bases for the study. The study adopted multistage sampling method where the study area was delineated into 28 neighborhoods to reach the sampling elements. Data on energy characteristics of the households were generated while descriptive statistics was employed in the analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Electricity, gas, kerosine, charcoal and fuel wood used with variety of cooking technologies were observed. 88.5% of the households indulge in cooking energy stacking or fuel switching in varying number and patterns as coping strategy. Out of the households that stack cooking energy, 51%, 12.7%, and 2.3% stack two, three and four additional cooking energy types respectively. Among the low level energy sources which include charcoal and fuel, wood, kerosine is the most used cooking energy fuel because it is easy to use against charcoal and fuel wood users who adopt them because of affordability and availability respectively. The study concludes that poor accessibility to regular modern energy (Electricity). Liquefied petroleum Gas, Kerosine; supply is the main rationale for energy stacking as coping method and recommends improving modern energy access in terms of availability and affordability.