The Federal Government has unveiled the Renewable and Asset Management Company (RAMCO), a new institution expected to oversee the management of Nigeria’s renewable power infrastructure as part of efforts to improve electricity supply.

The government has set a target of 6,500 megawatts of electricity supply by the end of December, followed by a further target of 8,000 megawatts by 2027.

Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed the targets in Abuja on Wednesday, noting that Nigeria’s current generation capacity is approximately 5,000 megawatts.

According to Tegbe, the ministry is working to bridge the gap through grid stabilisation, optimisation of existing assets and fresh investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure.

“We’re struggling to wheel 5,000 megawatts today, and my target is that by the end of this year, we will conveniently be wheeling 6,500 megawatts. We will be wheeling conveniently 8,000 megawatts, by the end of next year, Tegbe said.”

Tegbe said RAMCO would play a central role in the government’s strategy to increase electricity generation and strengthen reliability across the power system.

He described the creation of the company as a departure from the traditional approach of acquiring public power assets and subsequently abandoning them. Instead, RAMCO is expected to operate on the basis of professional stewardship, stronger governance and measurable performance.

“RAMCO is not going to be measured by how many megawatts it delivers, but the reliability of the delivery and the sustainability of that delivery,” he said, adding that the company’s success would ultimately be judged by how many assets remained operational, rather than the size of its portfolio.

The minister said Nigeria’s power sector had for years remained unbalanced, despite the country’s substantial energy resources and installed infrastructure. He noted that the challenge had been the limited availability of dependable electricity.

RAMCO, he explained, is intended to address that imbalance by ensuring that public power assets are treated as national investments whose value must be protected, rather than infrastructure that is commissioned and subsequently left without adequate attention.

As part of the grid stabilisation programme, the ministry has identified three priority corridors: the Lagos axis, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano corridor and the Enugu-Onitsha axis.

Technical audits are currently being conducted along the three corridors to determine the condition of towers, substations and other installations. Some of the infrastructure has remained in service for more than four decades, with the assessments expected to precede the planned replacement of ageing equipment.

The Federal Government is also working to resolve liquidity problems within the electricity sector. Tegbe said the measures include addressing the accumulated debt burden through a sustainable repayment framework and closing tariff shortfalls that have historically weakened investment in the sector.

Tegbe further clarified that RAMCO’s responsibilities would go beyond renewable energy. The company’s mandate will eventually cover the entire national grid.

SourceLeadership.ng