Joseph Tegbe, minister of power, says the federal government is targeting 6,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity supply by December 2026.
Tegbe said the target is part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the country’s electricity infrastructure, improve grid reliability, and ensure available power is delivered to consumers and economic clusters.
The minister spoke on Wednesday at the launch of the Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO), jointly established 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 would also extend RAMCO’s asset-management model beyond renewable energy to the entire 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.”
‘NIGERIA RICH IN POWER ASSETS BUT POOR IN RELIABLE ELECTRICITY’
Tegbe said the government’s focus is not merely to increase power generation but to improve the reliability and sustainability of electricity delivery.
“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.
He said Nigeria has an “embarrassing paradox” of having substantial power assets, energy resources and installed infrastructure but poor availability of dependable electricity.
Tegbe said the government has identified three major energy zones and corridors and is currently conducting technical audits to determine the condition of infrastructure along them.
He said the assessment would establish the number of faulty insulators, conductors, and transmission towers, among other infrastructure requiring intervention.
According to the minister, some of the equipment and infrastructure have been in place for about 42 years, adding that the government would replace ageing components to strengthen the transmission network.
He said the government is also working to address liquidity challenges in the electricity market through a sustainable repayment framework, as it plans to optimise existing power assets by linking them directly to industrial clusters and economic corridors.
Tegbe said mini-grids would also be deployed in areas without transmission infrastructure as part of efforts to diversify power supply.
“Wherever we do not have a transmission line, we will fill it up with mini-grids going forward,” he said.
He said the government’s long-term electricity strategy would combine grid supply with embedded generation, interconnected and isolated networks, distributed renewable energy, storage and other technologies suited to specific communities and economic clusters.
Tegbe said the new approach represents a departure from the traditional model of identifying, procuring, building and commissioning infrastructure without adequate attention to its long-term sustainability.
He described the new model as one that would identify risks, structure financing, build, upgrade, maintain, optimise, recycle and renew public infrastructure.
The minister said the government would also work to strengthen grid resilience through the development of additional transmission infrastructure and energy corridors.
He said the ultimate objective is to ensure that public investments in the power sector continue to generate value and deliver reliable electricity to Nigerians.
