FG Unveils RAMCO, Vows To End Cycle Of Neglected Power Infrastructure

The Federal Government has launched the Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO), a new vehicle to manage Nigeria’s power infrastructure sustenance and stop the prevailing abandonment of assets after commissioning.

The launch, held in Abuja on Wednesday, was attended by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa; the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako; the  Minister of Finance, Mr Taiwo Oyedele (represented); Special Adviser to the President on Power, Lanre Babalola; the Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr Tanimu Yakubu; and the Board Chairmen and CEOs of REA, MoFI and Infracorp amongst others

Speaking at the RAMCO Stakeholders’ Launch and Media Engagement Session, the  Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said RAMCO will protect what has been built, optimise existing assets, and ensure every naira invested in energy infrastructure produces sustained service.

He positioned RAMCO within a wider reform agenda and sector ambition spanning grid stabilisation, sector liquidity, and asset aggregation linked to industrial and economic corridors. “Our ambition is bigger than ending darkness,” Tegbe said.

“Our ambition is to use electricity to build prosperity: to make Nigeria competitive for manufacturing; to power the next generation of digital infrastructure; to provide reliable electricity to our hospitals; to modernise agriculture; to expand opportunity in rural communities; and to build an electricity industry capable of attracting domestic and international capital on its own commercial merits.”

A statement by Adeola Labzy, Special Adviser (Media) to the  Minister, indicated that the Minister commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for enabling financially sensible and institutionally durable models such as RAMCO, and acknowledged the collaboration of MoFI, Infracorp, the REA under Dr Abba Aliyu, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare through the Power for Health Initiative.

In his earlier remarks, the MD/CEO of REA, Dr Abba Aliyu, said RAMCO had been under consideration for years but remained a mere idea until Tegbe came on board and gave the marching order for its execution, calling the launch a testament to the Minister’s clear sense of direction.

He pointed to REA’s track record as the case for RAMCO: since 2017, the agency has deployed 82 megawatts of solar hybrid generation across 22 federal universities and three teaching hospitals under its Energising Education Programme, an investment he said now needs to be recouped through electricity tariffs to keep the assets sustainable.

REA Board Chairman, Ayo Fayose, called for a change of attitude among Nigerians toward the management of public assets.

The Federal Ministry of Power reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the delivery of stable, reliable and sustainable electricity to all Nigerians, in line with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, and will continue to work in close collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, agencies and development partners to ensure the successful implementation of RAMCO and the broader reforms of the Nigerian power sector.