Handheld sensors in 30 Abuja kitchens picked up something the families there had long suspected: cooking over firewood and charcoal fills a home with fine dust that the World Health Organisation says is too much to breathe. Then the households switched to gas, and the readings improved.
That finding came out of Project Breathe Clean Air Abuja, a scheme run by the Federal Capital Territory Administration and IHS Nigeria. It closed on Thursday with a finale at the Bwari Mini Stadium. In all, 10,000 LPG cylinders and refill vouchers went to households in 18 communities spread over the territory’s six Area Councils.
Why the project started
Dr Adedolapo Fasawe, Mandate Secretary of the FCT Health Services and Environment Secretariat, said the idea took shape after doctors saw more respiratory tract infections among women and more respiratory allergies among children. The common thread was smoke from firewood, charcoal and kerosene, breathed in for hours. IHS Nigeria put up the sponsorship, and the work began in November 2025.
Mariya Mahmud, the Minister of State for the FCT, was represented at the finale by Maijida Kuku. In her message, women and children carry the heaviest load from cooking smoke. Wider use of LPG, she said, would help public health, the environment and efforts to limit climate change.
What the sensors found
The 30 monitored homes sit in Kurudu and Pyakasa, in the Abuja Municipal Area Council. Before the switch, Fasawe said, PM2.5 levels in homes burning firewood and charcoal went past the WHO’s recommended limits. After the households moved to LPG, follow-up readings showed noticeably cleaner indoor air.
Fasawe said the results give the territory local evidence for future decisions on clean energy, air quality and public health. Two outdoor air quality sensors have also been bought for installation around the FCT, to supply real-time data.
Teams from the FCTA and IHS Nigeria also called on community leaders to teach safe handling of gas. Schoolchildren from primary to tertiary level received branded materials on environmental awareness and healthy living, and pregnant women were given baby care kits.
Voices from the finale
Mohamed Darwish, chief executive of IHS Nigeria, was represented by Dapo Otunla, a senior vice president. Darwish said the project fits two of the company’s four sustainability pillars, Environment and Climate Change and People and Communities. In his words, the programme “directly improves the quality of life of beneficiaries and others,” with women and children the most affected.
Dr Ayuba Usman, a clinical and radiation oncologist at the National Hospital Abuja, called the scheme life-changing and said it could ease the toll of lung cancer and other respiratory disease. Prevention costs less than treatment, she said, and she asked governments, development partners and private firms to back similar work.
Among those present were representatives of the Bwari and Abuja Municipal Area Council chairmen, the FCTA’s Head of Service, the Director-General of the Maryam Babangida Women Development Centre, the Area Commander and the Etsu Bwari.
