1 in 3 meters installed in 4 months as Nigeria lacks technicians – Adelabu

The Federal Government has revealed that only 200,000 out of the 600,000 smart meters brought into the country four months ago have been installed.

The shortfall, according to Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, has nothing to do with the availability of meters, but everything to do with a critical shortage of trained technicians across the country.

He made this known today at the PwC’s Annual Power and Utilities Roundtable 2025 themed “Nigeria’s multi-tier electricity market: Imperatives for successful evolution”, in Lagos.

“We brought in almost 600,000 meters a few months back, about three, four months ago. Today, we have only installed 200,000 out of 600,000 meters,” the Minister stated. “Where are the installers? We don’t even have installers.”

Read also: Ondo govt to commence 50,000 smart meters installation payment to communities, households

Data from the latest report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) showed that a total of 225,631 meters were installed in the second quarter of 2025.

According to the report, this development represented an increase of 20.55 percent compared to the 187,161 meters installed in the first quarter of the year.

NERC stated: “During the quarter, 147,823 meters (65.52 percent of the total installations) were installed under the MAP framework, 65,315 meters were installed under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF), 12,259 meters were installed under the Vendor Financed framework, and 234 meters were installed under the DisCo Financed framework.

“As at the end of June 2025, only 6,422,933 out of the total 11,821,194 active registered customers in the NESI were metered, translating to a metering rate of 54.33 percent.”

According to Adelabu, this shortage threatens to slow down the government’s aggressive N700 billion plan to deploy 10 million meters over the next five years, an initiative designed to address the grievances of over seven million unmetered customers who are forced to pay opaque and often inflated estimated bills.

“Jobs to be done, but no skills”, the Minister stated.

The Minister framed the crisis as a national irony, where widespread youth unemployment coexists with a critical shortage of specific technical skills vital for national development.

Read also: Govt distributes over 13,000 prepaid meters to reduce estimated billing in Ondo

“We are saying we have a…population of youth without jobs. There are jobs to be done. But are they skilled enough to engage in these jobs? No,” Adelabu declared.

He announced an urgent partnership between the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) and the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) to launch a crash program for certifying and training meter installers.

Adelabu also used the platform to issue a stern warning to underperforming Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos), revealing that their failure to invest in infrastructure since taking over in 2013 has left them with “negative capital” and unable to attract loans.

He announced that the government is moving to legislate minimum capital requirements for Discos, which will become a mandatory criterion for the renewal of their operating licenses, forcing them to finally invest in network improvement.