Abstract
In Nigeria, as many developing countries, providing energy for the population has proven to be a great challenge thereby increasing dependence on other sources of energy such as fuel-wood. The consumption of forest product such as wood in Nigeria exceeds its regeneration rate thereby resulting in environmental problems such as deforestation, desert encroachment, soil erosion and habitat loss. The aim of the research is to investigate household’s fuel-wood consumption pattern and its impact on the urban poor using Makurdi Nigeria as my case study. Three factors level of qualification, monthly income and number of households were tested to know the influence of these factors on fuel-wood consumption. Methods used to collect data includes primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected by administering questionnaires and secondary data from journals and articles. Result of the findings shows that there is statistical significant impact of monthly income of fuel-wood consumption while level of qualification and number of household members has no statistical significance. The survey revealed some gaps on strategies to reduce deforestation and increase efficiency in fuel-wood consumption. Short term, medium term and long term strategy were recommended.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Nigeria as considered by many to be the giant of Africa is known for its renewable and non-renewable energy sources (Ajani, 1996). The renewable energy sources in Nigeria consist of solar, wind, hydro plants and biomass such as fuel-wood, dung and plant residue. While the non-renewable sources are mainly petroleum products such as; kerosene, crude oil, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and coal (Ajani, 1996).
Nigeria has a population of over 168 million and it is estimated to reach 188 million by 2016 and 221 million by 2020 (NPCN, 2013). In Nigeria, as many developing countries, providing energy for the population has proven to be a great challenge thereby increasing dependence on other sources of energy such as fuel-wood.
The economy has for over two decades been plagued by continuous energy crisis, which is caused by ‘erratic electric power supply, acute shortages of petroleum products on several occasions, sudden price increase on energy commodities such as crude oil and natural gas and frequent conflict between the populace led by the labour movement, and the Federal Government on what should constitute appropriate prices of petroleum and other energy supplying commodities’ (CBN, 2000).
A study by Onoja and Emodi, 2012 suggest that the inaccessibility of the population to sufficient energy supply by the government has led to increase in the consumption of fuel-wood as an alternative source of energy. This consumption pattern has both economic benefits and environmental impact on the environment.
The energy demand and consumption according to various sectors in the country shows that residential sector has the second highest energy demand (Dayo, 2008). Presently, fuel-wood accounts for over 50% of total energy consumption in Nigeria and it recorded as the major source of energy in the domestic sector (Nigerian Energy Policy, 2003).
Over 70% of Nigeria’s total population rely on fuel-wood as their major source of energy for cooking, heating, preservation and other domestic purposes and 87% of the energy consumed is estimated to be wood (Onoja and Emodi, 2012). According to statistics, 96.4% of fuel-wood is used for cooking, 3.3% is used for lighting and the rest is for other domestic purposes (Dayo, 2008).
 The population growth rate couple with the consumption rate of the forest product has raised an alarming rate of forest product depletion. The consumption of forest product such as wood in Nigeria exceeds its regeneration rate as there is an increase in the rate of exploitation of immature trees especially by farmers (Mekonnen et al., 2008). This indicates that as consumption rate increases, forest product will continue to decrease in an unsustainable manner as demand and supply will not be proportional. The unsustainable fuelwood consumption could lead to environmental problems such as forest depletion, soil erosion, habitat loss and climate change (Akinbamia et al., 2003).
The Nigerian forest covers about 36million ha of land which is approximately 36.6% of land cover (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2001). Presently, the forest reserve accounts for 10,762,702ha but due to the indiscriminate felling of trees, the forest reserve is reduced to only about 130,446ha that is left untouched and that is because of inaccessibility to the location (Amiebenomo, 2002). The Federal Department of Forestry (2001) records that the Nigerian forest depletes at the rate of 3.5% annually and has presently lost about 60% of its natural forest to extensive agriculture, excessive logging and urbanization between 1960 and 2000( FAO, 2006).Â
