Abuja | 23 July 2026
The Executive Secretary of the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI), Olu Arowolo Verheijen, on Thursday delivered the keynote address at the launch of the Power Force programme in Abuja, outlining the Federal Government’s vision to train 5,000 young Nigerians as certified smart meter installers while supporting the nationwide deployment of more than seven million smart meters.
Below is the full text of her speech.
Protocol.
Good morning.
If I asked every young Nigerian in this room one question—
“Do you believe Nigeria can still work?”
I suspect I would hear many different answers. Some would say yes. Some would hesitate. Some might quietly say, “I want to believe… but I’ve been disappointed before.”
If we’re honest, that hesitation did not appear overnight. It has been built over many years. Years when too many promises produced too little change.
Years when many talented young Nigerians concluded that the surest path to success was somewhere else. I understand that feeling. But I refuse to accept that it is our destiny.
Because nations change when enough people decide they will build something better. That is why we are here today. Not simply to launch another government programme. But to launch a generation of builders.
Because Power Force is not really about smart meters. Smart meters are simply the tool.
People are the mission.
Under the leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential Metering Initiative was established to solve one of the biggest barriers to a reliable electricity sector: ensuring that every Nigerian pays only for the electricity they actually use.
Working with the thirty-six State Governments, the World Bank and our implementation partners, we are deploying more than seven million smart meters across Nigeria, the largest metering programme in our nation’s history.
But as we prepared for that journey, one truth became impossible to ignore.
Seven million smart meters require thousands of skilled Nigerians. Capital can be raised. Equipment can be procured.
But no nation develops without capable people.
That is why we created Power Force. To train five thousand young Nigerians.Not merely to install meters. But to build careers. To build confidence. To build a modern electricity sector.
And ultimately, to help build Nigeria itself.
We knew this opportunity would matter. What we did not expect was just how deeply it would resonate. Applications have now closed. For just 5,000 places, we received more than 217,000 applications from young Nigerians across our country.
That tells us something profound. It tells us that beneath every statistic about unemployment lies something even more powerful: A generation that is ready to work… if given the opportunity.
Our responsibility is to keep creating those opportunities.
To every young Nigerian listening today, is not who you know or the challenges you have overcome. Your greatest asset is your ability to learn, to build, and to solve problems that matter.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu believes that Nigeria’s greatest wealth is the ingenuity of her people. Power Force is one expression of that belief.
Because the future cannot be built by government alone. It will be built by millions of capable Nigerians equipped with the skills and the opportunity to shape it.
Every Power Force graduate will receive professional training through NAPTIN, industry certification through NEMSA, and a direct pathway into employment with distribution companies and meter providers.
That matters because meaningful work changes communities. And millions of people doing meaningful work change nations.
Every smart meter installed means a family pays only for what it consumes. It means trust replacing suspicion. Transparency replacing uncertainty. Investment replacing hesitation. Growth replacing stagnation. One smart meter cannot transform Nigeria. But seven million can.
One young installer cannot transform Nigeria. But five thousand can inspire fifty thousand. And fifty thousand can inspire millions more. That is how movements begin. One opportunity. One person. One act of service at a time.
The first phase begins here in Abuja before expanding to every geopolitical zone, ensuring that no part of Nigeria is left behind.
Let me express my deepest appreciation to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose vision continues to challenge us to move beyond managing problems to solving them, and whose leadership reminds us that reform must ultimately improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
I wish to pay special tribute to the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum for his exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to this initiative. His partnership has demonstrated what is possible when the Federal Government and the States work together in pursuit of a common national purpose.
I also thank all members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Forum of State Commissioners, Chairman Nigerian Revenue Service, Chairman Commissioners Forum, the Honourable Ministers Power, and Youth Development, the PMI Board, our partners at NAPTIN and NEMSA, the World Bank, the President’s Media Team, our implementation partners, and the relentless Project Director and every member of the PMI team whose dedication has brought us to this day.
Years from now, millions of Nigerians will switch on the lights in their homes without ever knowing who installed the meter that made fair billing possible.
Businesses will grow. Children will study. Families will save. Communities will prosper. And somewhere, a young Nigerian who began their journey with Power Force will know that they helped make it possible.
That is nation-building.
Because the greatest changes in a nation rarely happen in a single moment. They happen when ordinary people are given the opportunity to do extraordinary things—day after day, community after community.
And where every young Nigerian can say, with confidence:
“My future is not determined by the problems I inherited, but by the future I helped build.” Because the greatest resource of any nation is not what lies beneath its soil.
It is what lies within its people. Today, through Power Force, we are investing in that greatest resource. And when Nigeria invests in her people, there is no limit to what Nigerians can build.
Let us build it—together.
Thank you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
