The federal government has revealed that the national metering rate has risen to about 57 per cent, with hundreds of thousands of new meters deployed. Olu Verheijen, special adviser to the president on oil and gas, disclosed this at the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce Energy Day 2026.

Ms Verheijen said the increase was achieved through two distinct programmes: the Presidential Metering Initiative and a World Bank-supported programme. She also disclosed that the two programmes are set to deploy several million additional meters in the years ahead.

“Metering protects consumers, reduces estimated billing, and builds the commercial discipline investment requires,” she said.

Ms Verheijen said the federal government is equally implementing electricity tariff reform pragmatically. She disclosed that about 45 per cent of the market is now on cost-reflective tariffs linked to service quality.

According to her, the subsidised segment has been redesigned to better protect vulnerable households, thereby reducing the projected subsidy burden by over $1 trillion.

Ms Verheijen said Nigeria has never lacked energy potential, “We have oil. We have gas, and we have sunlight, water, land, talent and skills. What we have lacked is conversion—the discipline to turn resources into results.”

Specifically, she said the country had lacked the discipline to turn its abundant reserves into production and revenue. She also said it failed to convert its gas into power and the power into productivity.

Ms Verheijen said that what the country had failed to do for decades was what President Bola Tinubu mandated them to do: move Nigeria’s energy sector from promise to performance.

“Energy is not simply a sector. It is the foundation of national competitiveness. When energy works, factories run, farms process, transport gets cheaper, and governments can invest in their people. When energy fails, every Nigerian pays—in diesel costs, food prices, lost jobs and pressure on the naira. That is why energy reform is economic reform,” she said.

Ms Verheijen said that following the president’s directive, they embarked on energy reforms that go beyond oil companies, power plants, or investors and affect the common man.

“Energy reform is not an elite conversation. It is a national development conversation. We are speaking of the price of food, the cost of transport, the survival of small businesses, the strength of the naira, and jobs for young Nigerians.

“We have done the foundational work. The directives were issued, the decisions were taken, the structures were designed, and the agreements were negotiated and signed,” she said.

Ms Verheijen urged the new sector leadership to build upon the laid foundation to move from financial stabilisation to service delivery, expanded access, and the reliable power Nigeria’s industrial ambitions require.

According to her, the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce plays an enormous role in that regard.

Ms Verheijen said that while the UK brings finance, legal structuring, insurance, engineering, and institutional capital, Nigeria will bring resources, demand, scale, and reform momentum.

“The opportunity is to connect these strengths around bankable projects and to move partnership beyond goodwill into financing structures, skills transfer and measurable outcomes.

“Nigeria is no longer presenting potential alone. We are presenting a reform pathway, a project pipeline, and evidence that disciplined execution changes outcomes,” Ms Verheijen said.

(NAN)