Mrs. Olu Verheijen

Olu Verheijen is the Special Adviser on Energy to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, where she leads policy and regulatory reforms across Nigeria’s petroleum, gas, power, and renewable sectors. In her role, she has championed local content policies and executive orders aimed at reducing upstream costs and increasing investment in energy infrastructure — measures designed to channel more value into domestic firms, stimulate industrial activity, and ultimately drive sustainable job creation.

Before her government appointment, Verheijen was Managing Director of Latimer Energy and held leadership roles in companies like Shell and Persistent, focusing on deals, project development, and energy finance across Africa. She has consistently underscored that growth in the energy sector must translate into employment — advocating for skills training, equitable access for women and youth in energy value chains, and capacity development of indigenous companies to absorb labor in construction, operations, maintenance, and manufacturing linked to energy projects