Making Subsidy Reform Work for Women in Nigeria

This briefing note examines the gendered impacts of petroleum and kerosene subsidy reform in Nigeria. It argues that without targeted compensation, reform may disproportionately harm women by increasing living costs, increasing reliance on biomass fuels (which impacts respiratory health), and reducing economic opportunities. The authors recommend a 'precautionary principle' to design compensation policies that specifically benefit women and suggest using subsidy savings to improve clean energy access.

• Subsidy reform in Nigeria is expected to create an 'income effect' where increased energy prices raise living costs, disproportionately affecting women who typically have less control over household spending. In Nigeria's poorest households, 44% of women are unemployed compared to 19% of men, and 62% of households report that major purchases are mainly made by men.
• The 'energy-use effect' of reform may drive a shift toward cheaper biomass fuels for cooking and lighting. This increases the time women spend on fuel collection and worsens respiratory health; the World Health Organization attributes over 95,000 deaths per year in Nigeria to smoke from firewood and traditional biomass.
• Research in Ekiti State demonstrates a higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms among women using biomass fuels compared to those using non-biomass fuels, specifically regarding cough (13.7% vs 3.7%), wheezing (8.7% vs 2.8%), chest pain (7.5% vs 1.9%), breathlessness (11.8% vs 6.5%), and chronic bronchitis (10.6% vs 2.8%).
• While higher prices may improve energy supply networks in the medium term (the 'energy-supply effect'), the government is advised to adopt a 'precautionary principle' due to a lack of precise data on how reform will affect the poorest women.
• To mitigate negative impacts, the document proposes several compensation tools targeted at women, including in-kind transfers for healthcare and education, cash transfers where women are the recipients, micro-loans for women entrepreneurs, and infrastructure projects like street lighting and wells.
• The government should promote clean cooking stoves and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to ensure poor women can afford modern fuels, ideally by establishing domestic production to create employment for women and avoid reliance on imports.
• Effective communication of reform should move away from a 'negative' agenda of taking away subsidies and instead emphasize the protection of vulnerable groups and the failure of kerosene subsidies to make clean fuel affordable for the poorest.

APA

Kitson, L., Beaton, C., & Ohaeri, V. (2016). Making Subsidy Reform Work for Women in Nigeria. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/subsidy-reform-woman-nigeria-briefing-note_0.pdf

Chicago

Kitson, Lucy, Christopher Beaton, and Victoria Ohaeri. Making Subsidy Reform Work for Women in Nigeria. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2016. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/subsidy-reform-woman-nigeria-briefing-note_0.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kitson |first1=Lucy |last2=Beaton |first2=Christopher |last3=Ohaeri |first3=Victoria |title=Making Subsidy Reform Work for Women in Nigeria |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=March 2016 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/subsidy-reform-woman-nigeria-briefing-note_0.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kitson2016making, author = {Kitson, Lucy and Beaton, Christopher and Ohaeri, Victoria}, title = {{Making Subsidy Reform Work for Women in Nigeria}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2016}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/subsidy-reform-woman-nigeria-briefing-note_0.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }