The Federal Government is targeting 6,500 megawatts of electricity supply by December 2026 as part of efforts to improve power reliability and strengthen the country’s electricity infrastructure.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed this on Wednesday, August 26, at the launch of the Renewable Asset Management Company, RAMCO, in Abuja.
RAMCO was established jointly by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, MOFI, the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, and the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria, InfraCorp, to manage publicly financed renewable energy assets.
Tegbe said the government plans to extend RAMCO’s asset-management approach beyond renewable energy to cover the wider energy sector.
“For me, RAMCO offers a different model, a new paradigm,” Tegbe said.
“I’m committed to not only limiting this to renewable energy. We will also shift it to the entire energy sector. And this new model will focus on professional stewardship, governance, discipline, sustainability, and measuring performance.”
The minister said the government’s objective was not simply to increase electricity generation, but to ensure that available power could be delivered consistently to homes, businesses and industrial clusters.
“RAMCO is not going to be measured by how many megawatts you deliver, but the reliability of your delivery and the sustainability of that delivery,” he said.
Tegbe described Nigeria’s power situation as an “embarrassing paradox”, noting that the country has significant energy resources, power assets and installed infrastructure but continues to struggle with reliable electricity supply.
He said the government had identified three major energy zones and corridors where technical audits were underway to assess the condition of existing infrastructure.
The audits, he explained, would identify faulty insulators, conductors, transmission towers and other components requiring repairs or replacement.
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According to the minister, some of the infrastructure has been in operation for about 42 years. He said ageing components would be replaced as part of efforts to strengthen the transmission network and improve grid reliability.
Tegbe also said the government was working on a sustainable repayment framework to address liquidity challenges in the electricity market.
He said existing power assets would be better utilised by connecting them directly to industrial clusters and economic corridors where reliable electricity could support economic activity.
In areas without transmission infrastructure, the government plans to expand the use of mini-grids.
“Wherever we do not have a transmission line, we will fill it up with mini-grids going forward,” he said.
The minister said Nigeria’s long-term electricity strategy would combine conventional grid supply with embedded generation, interconnected and isolated networks, distributed renewable energy, storage systems and other technologies suited to specific communities and economic clusters.
He said the approach represented a shift from the traditional practice of building and commissioning infrastructure without sufficient attention to its long-term maintenance and performance.
Under the new model, Tegbe said the government would identify risks, structure financing, build, upgrade, maintain, optimise, recycle and renew public infrastructure.
He added that additional transmission infrastructure and energy corridors would be developed to strengthen the resilience of the national grid.
Tegbe said the broader objective was to ensure that government investments in the power sector remained productive and translated into more reliable electricity for Nigerians.