Tanya Davidson
Abuja — Nigeria’s push to capture more value from its natural resources will depend heavily on reliable electricity, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen, has said.
Verheijen said while investments were returning to Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and domestic value addition was expanding, unreliable power remained a major constraint to the country’s ability to build globally competitive industries.
She stated this recently while delivering the guest lecture at the 13th Olusegun Agagu Memorial Lecture in Lagos, themed “Africa’s Resources, Africa’s Prosperity: Capturing More of the Value We Create.”
According to her, Nigeria must move beyond exporting raw materials and importing higher-value products made from them, arguing that economic development requires retaining more of the value generated from the country’s resources.
“Resources are an inheritance; prosperity is a responsibility,” Verheijen said.
She cited the Dangote Refinery as an example of the potential of large-scale domestic value addition, noting that Nigeria had historically exported crude oil while importing refined petroleum products.
She also said reforms introduced since 2023 had helped unlock more than $10 billion in final investment decisions in the upstream sector, while contracting timelines had been reduced by more than half.
But Verheijen said increased investment and oil-sector reforms would not by themselves deliver industrialisation without a more reliable electricity system.
“There can be no African industrialisation without reliable power,” she said.
“We cannot ask our factories to compete globally while asking them to overcome the electricity system themselves.”
She said reforms in the power sector, including metering and efforts to resolve legacy sector debt, should therefore be viewed not merely as interventions in the electricity industry but as measures aimed at improving the productivity of the wider economy.
“That is why our power reforms, from metering to resolving legacy sector debt, are ultimately about building a more productive economy,” she said.
Verheijen also acknowledged a gap between improvements in macroeconomic indicators and the conditions experienced by households, saying government must work to ensure that economic reforms translate into tangible improvements in citizens’ daily lives.
“While investment is returning and markets are strengthening, we must recognise the lag between macroeconomic progress and what families experience in their daily lives and work urgently to close it,” she said.
The energy adviser said the responsibility for translating Nigeria’s resource wealth into prosperity should not rest solely with government, stressing the role of businesses and citizens in the process.
“Government and business are partners in this work. But the citizen is not an observer. The citizen is the reason for it,” she said.
The event featured former Botswana President Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi as keynote speaker, while former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan chaired the lecture.
