By Kemi Olatunde
“I moved to my house some years ago and I have not been able to get a prepaid meter. I am baffled at the outrageous bill given to me on monthly basis. Those in charge of the billing are making life unbearable for Nigerians because I learnt that it is not limited to Ondo State.
“I have opted for an affordable solar power which I think serves me better as I make use of it on daily basis unlike the other which is not always available.”
The above were the words of a 52-year-old government worker who craved anonymity while chatting with THE HOPE recently.
For years, Nigeria’s electricity sector has been trapped in a vicious cycle of inadequate metering, estimated billing, poor revenue collection and weak investor’s confidence. Despite repeated reforms, over seven million electricity customers remain without meters, according to industry estimates, forcing millions of households and businesses to rely on estimated bills that have fuelled consumer protests, legal disputes and widespread distrust of electricity distribution companies. The metering gap has also translated into billions of naira in annual revenue losses for the power sector, limiting investments needed to improve electricity supply.
Recognising that simply procuring meters would not solve the problem, the Federal Government launched the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI) in 2023 as part of President Bola Tinubu’s broader electricity reform agenda. The initiative was conceived to eliminate Nigeria’s chronic metering deficit by accelerating the deployment of smart meters nationwide. But as implementation progressed, another challenge became apparent: there were not enough trained personnel to install millions of meters within the desired timeframe.
It is this manpower gap that gave birth to the Power Force programme—an ambitious plan to build a nationwide army of certified smart meter installers capable of driving what government officials describe as the largest metering rollout in Nigeria’s history. The initiative is not merely about training technicians; it is an attempt to simultaneously tackle two of Nigeria’s biggest socio-economic challenges—poor electricity service and youth unemployment.
That vision came into sharper focus when the Federal Government kicked off the training of the first batch of 5,000 smart meter installers at the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) in Abuja.
The overwhelming response to the programme underscored the hunger for employment opportunities among Nigerian youths. According to the Presidential Metering Initiative, nearly 220,000 applications were received for only 5,000 available slots—a ratio of about 44 applicants competing for every position.
The selected participants will undergo three weeks of intensive classroom instruction and practical field training before receiving professional certification and deployment across the country.
For the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, the programme represents a strategic investment in human capital rather than simply another government training scheme.
He argued that sustainable electricity reforms depend as much on skilled people as on infrastructure.
“Behind every successful metering programme must stand thousands of competent, certified and dedicated technicians,” the minister said, adding that the 5,000 trainees would become the foundation of Nigeria’s smart metering workforce.
His remarks reflect a growing recognition that one of the less discussed barriers to infrastructure delivery in Nigeria is the shortage of skilled technical manpower. Even where funding and equipment are available, implementation often slows because there are too few qualified professionals to execute projects at scale.
The Executive Secretary of the Presidential Metering Initiative and Special Adviser to the President, Olu Verheijen, described the programme as a critical component of government’s determination to ensure that Nigerians pay only for electricity actually consumed.
For years, estimated billing has remained one of the most contentious issues in Nigeria’s electricity industry. Consumer advocacy groups have repeatedly accused electricity distribution companies of imposing arbitrary charges, while distribution companies argue that the absence of meters makes accurate billing impossible.
Smart meters are expected to bridge that trust deficit by providing transparent records of electricity consumption while improving revenue assurance for operators.
Yet installing millions of meters requires far more than manufacturing capacity.
It requires thousands of trained installers capable of safely deploying the devices in homes, businesses and industrial facilities across the federation.
This explains why the Power Force initiative places equal emphasis on workforce development.
According to Verheijen, “One young installer cannot transform Nigeria. But five thousand can inspire fifty thousand. And fifty thousand can inspire millions more.”
The initiative is also emerging as a model for inter-agency collaboration.
The Ministry of Youth Development has aligned the programme with its One Youth, Two Skills initiative, seeing it as an avenue to create sustainable employment rather than temporary empowerment schemes.
Minister of Youth Development Ayo Olawande described the initiative as evidence that coordinated government action can simultaneously promote skills acquisition, job creation and national development.
Another development that could accelerate implementation is the withdrawal of litigation previously instituted by the Association of Meter Manufacturers of Nigeria against aspects of the metering programme.
Minister Tegbe described the decision as one that removes a significant obstacle to faster nationwide deployment of electricity meters.
Support is also coming from the states.
Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, represented by NGF Executive Director of Finance and Administration Edmund Nnaji, encouraged state governments to partner with the Federal Government in expanding the programme beyond the initial 5,000 beneficiaries.
Following the Abuja launch, training will spread to centres across the country’s six geopolitical zones, ensuring wider geographical participation.
Graduates will receive certification from the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), confirming they meet national and international standards for competence and safety before deployment.
The significance of the initiative extends beyond the immediate objective of meter installation.
It represents a shift in the philosophy of public sector reform—from importing solutions to developing local capacity to sustain them. If successful, Nigeria would not only reduce its metering deficit, but also build a skilled technical workforce capable of supporting future investments in renewable energy, smart grids and digital electricity infrastructure.
The true measure of the programme, however, will not be the number of certificates awarded but the number of homes that finally receive accurate electricity meters, the reduction in estimated billing complaints, and the thousands of young Nigerians who find lasting careers in a sector central to the country’s economic growth.
In that sense, the Power Force initiative is more than a training programme. It is a test of whether Nigeria can solve infrastructure challenges by investing in its people as much as in technology.
In Ondo State, all hands are on deck to ease the pain of residents as the state government is actively driving mass metering through the O’Datiwa Meters Initiative. This is being carried out by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Ondo State Power Company (OSPC).
It has initiated the aubsitised installation payment scheme to reduce the upfront financial burden, the state introduced a flexible payment plan allowing residents and small businesses to make a small initial deposit and spread the remaining balance over 3 to 6 months.
There has been massive deployment in the state as the first phase of the initiative involves rolling out 50,000 prepaid meters across the 18 Local Government areas, working alongside accredited Meter Asset Providers (MAPs).
The government has also capped official subsidised rates at \(\mathbb{N}120,000\) for single-phase and \(\mathbb{N}220,000\) for three-phase meters, warning residents to avoid purchasing unverified, non-state-issued meters.
It has also eradicated estimated billing through this initiative to protect citizens from arbitrary charges by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), and ensures transparent energy consumption tracking.
It has put it in place that under the state’s electricity laws, bypassing or tampering with a meter is a criminal offence, and the government has established specialised frameworks to enforce regulations and reconcile accumulated outstanding bills.