KEY POINTS
- Nigerian manufacturers won a court order halting 1.55 million smart meter imports nationwide.
- The halt threatens the World Bank’s $500m Nigeria Distribution Sector Recovery Programme with cancellation.
- Only $87.34m of the $500m facility had been disbursed by June 2026.
Nigerian manufacturers have won a court order that halts the purchase of 1.55 million smart meters. The ruling now threatens a major World Bank metering programme.
The Association of Meter Manufacturers of Nigeria secured the injunction on April 30, 2026. The group represents local meter makers and assemblers. AMMON argued that the international procurement framework shut out Nigerian manufacturers. It said the process undermined the development of domestic industry.
The order stalls the World Bank’s $500m Nigeria Distribution Sector Recovery Programme. In its latest Implementation Status and Results Report, seen on Friday, the bank called the case the programme’s biggest implementation risk. The injunction has frozen the opening of bids for a second batch of meters. That phase, known as ICB2, covers the 1.55 million additional smart meters.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria’s project unit has extended the bid deadline three times since the order. The latest deadline was fixed for June 25. The bank warned that the deadlock could force it to scrap the tender. “Cancellation of the ICB2 procurement may need to be considered to avoid market uncertainty, cost escalation, and further programmatic delay,” it said.
A programme built to fix distribution
The World Bank approved the programme in February 2021. It funds reforms, metering and network investment to improve Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies.
Despite the dispute, the bank said implementation was still improving. It kept the programme’s “moderately satisfactory” rating and noted an upgrade from a weaker score six months earlier.
The first procurement phase has gathered pace. As of June 15, about 1.23 million meters had been manufactured, 1.03 million had reached Nigeria, and 482,000 had been installed. That installed total is up from 365,000 at the April mid-term review. The programme has also given roughly 530,000 people direct electricity access under the Mission 300 initiative.
Local contracts tied to the case
The order is also holding up meters meant for Nigerian firms. Contracts for 217,000 locally procured meters have reached an advanced stage after input from the Attorney General of the Federation.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises has set one condition for those deals. It will not sign the local contracts until the AMMON injunction is lifted. Disbursement remains slow across the wider facility. Only $87.34m, about 17 per cent of the $500m, had been released by June 2026.
The bank has extended the programme’s closing date from June 2026 to May 2028. It is also preparing an additional $308m financing package.
The standoff comes at a fragile moment for the sector. Nigeria recently cancelled $717.7m in undisbursed World Bank funding tied to a separate power recovery operation.
