By Charles Ebi
Foreign companies are set to benefit from a significant share of the Federal Government’s N700bn Presidential Metering Initiative ,PMI,, with N490bn earmarked for their participation, as reliably gathered.
The remaining N210bn of the project fund has been allocated to Nigerian meter manufacturers, despite calls for greater support for local content.
The Federal Ministry of Power recently launched the PMI with the goal of deploying two million electricity meters annually over a five-year period.
The initiative is funded through a ₦700bn allocation secured from the Federation Account Allocation Committee ,FAAC.
Speaking at the sixth edition of the 2025 ministerial briefing in Abuja, Minister of Power Chief Adebayo Adelabu confirmed that local manufacturers would be allocated 30 per cent of the total project value.
Adelabu acknowledged the concerns surrounding the marginalisation of local meter producers but explained that capacity constraints necessitated the involvement of foreign suppliers.
He noted that the World Bank’s Distribution Recovery Programme, a separate intervention, already reserves a portion of its funding for local meter producers, with local quantitative bidding processes already underway.
The Minister, however, stated that the urgency of the initiative and the scale of demand outstrip local manufacturing capacity.
He said, “The last one is that the interest of the local meter manufacturers is being taken off. The owners of these things ,meter manufacturing companies, are our fellow brothers, and we cannot allow their investment to go into extinction. We must patronise them.
“For this one, the World Bank fund distribution recovery there is a portion allocated for local manufacturers, and they have even started the local quantitative bidding.
“For the presidential metering initiative, 30% is put aside for the local manufacturers. You are not the only one who likes local patronage; I also do, because I have local businesses too.
“So, I can tell you that we have their interest in mind. But the rate at which we want to move, in meter acquisition and procurement, they don’t have the capacity.
“Ninety percent of them are assembly points. They are not full manufacturers. Local content ranges from 10% to 40% We will rely more on importation plus local supply”.
