Ayodele Fayose, chairman of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and a former governor of Ekiti State, has urged Nigerians to support the financial and behavioural changes needed to overhaul the country’s electricity industry.
Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday at the launch of the Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO), Fayose said a change in attitude among even 10% of Nigerians could help drive a broader transformation across Africa’s most populous nation. He described the government-owned company as a major development for the power sector. RAMCO will collect electricity tariffs from renewable-energy installations completed at 25 public tertiary institutions and hospitals.
Fayose said constructing infrastructure was only the beginning, arguing that effective maintenance and uninterrupted operation were just as important. He also called for greater public ownership of electricity assets, saying facilities would remain useful for much longer if citizens protected public infrastructure rather than treating it as nobody’s responsibility.
“Our responsibility must extend beyond building these assets to keeping them functional,” Fayose said. He added that the effort was a national undertaking intended to deliver benefits to ordinary Nigerians through a shared commitment to one country and one people.
REA Managing Director Abba Aliyu said RAMCO represented the next stage in making renewable-energy assets productive and financially sustainable. He said the company would help reduce Nigeria’s reliance on government appropriations, sovereign borrowing and development-finance funding as the country seeks to widen electricity access.
Earlier, Power Minister Joseph Tegbe said the Federal Government intended to introduce a new electricity charge for energy assets installed at 25 public institutions, including teaching hospitals.
