Washington, DC: The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, an initiative of the United Nations Foundation has appointed Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central) as a Member of the Leadership Council of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private partnership formed during the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2010 by the Former United States Secretary of States, Hillary Clinton. The alliance seeks to mobilize high-level national and donor commitments toward the goal of universal adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels. The appointment of the caliber of a Distinguished Senator like Bukola Saraki is in line with the Alliance’s objective of mobilizing high-level national and donor commitments toward the goal of universal adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels. Its ambitious but achievable goal is to foster the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in 100 million households by 2020.

Other Leadership Council members includes the Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson; Former President of Chile, UN Under-Secretary & Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet; and Swedish Minister of Development Cooperation, Gunilla Carlsson; and Wanjira Mathai, Project leader for the Wangari Mathai Institute for Peace & Environmental Studies (WMI). Senator Bukola saraki hopes that he can help influence the leadership of the Global Alliance, the Executive and Legislature of Nigeria, to bring clean cooking solutions to Nigerians and Africans at large.

Confirming his appointment, the Executive Director of the Alliance, Radha Muthiah thanked the Senator for accepting his appointment and added that he merited the appointment in lieu of his past and current transformational programs within and outside Nigeria. She noted that while Senator Bukola Saraki was Governor of Kwara state, his Community Health Insurance Scheme, Environmental Clean and Green Scheme, Commercial Agricultural Transformation through the Zimbabwean Farmer’s Scheme were worthy of note. As Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Bukola Saraki has championed potential solutions to some life threatening environmental issues in Nigeria that needed urgent attention, inluding the NOSDRA Amemndment Bill 2012, the Lead Poisoning incident in Zamfara State where over 1500 children’s lives were in danger of survival, formation of GLOBE Nigeria to join other legislators all over the world through international cooperation to help advance the domestication of international environmental traeties into sustainable development laws in Nigeria, as well as his unwavering support for the mission and vision of the Global Alliance for Clean cookstoves.

Exposure to smoke from traditional cook stoves and open fires – the primary means of cooking and heating for 3 billion people in developing countries – causes almost 2 million premature deaths annually, with women and young children affected most. The majority of Nigeria’s  rural and urban population rely on solid fuels (biomass and firewood) for household cooking. According to the World Health Organization, this accounts for more than 240,000 global premature deaths annually. As part of the commitment of the Global Alliance to create a sustainable thriving global market for clean cookstoves and fuels, the Alliance commissioned assessments of the cookstove and fuel markets in 16 countries, including Nigeria. Senator Bukola Saraki supports the views of Former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton which stated that “cooking with dirty traditional wood stoves is one of the solvable problems that we face in the world today, and worthy of support because it is a triple winner – Health, Environment and Women Livelihood.”

Senator Bukola Saraki’s appointment as a member of the Leadership Council of the Global Alliance for Cleancookstoves once again reflects the leadership and human resource potential, strength and opportunities Nigeria posses as a nation state in leading major international interventions. Senator Bukola Saraki believes that all Nigerians have a right to the basic amenities of life including safer and healthier methods of cooking while safe guarding their health, saving income for other productive family uses as well as combating climate change through reduced deforestation and environmental conservation.