• Nigeria is considering creating a Grid Asset Management Company (GAMCO) to manage transmission infrastructure.

• The move targets a key bottleneck in the country’s electricity system: limited transmission capacity.

• The proposal is part of broader reforms in Nigeria’s power sector, including debt settlement and subsidy changes.

Nigeria is considering the creation of a new company responsible for managing and modernizing the country’s electricity transmission infrastructure, part of broader reforms aimed at improving the performance of the national power system.

President Bola Tinubu has proposed the establishment of a Grid Asset Management Company (GAMCO), according to reports published March 5 by local media outlets.

The proposed entity would oversee key components of the transmission network, including high-voltage transmission lines, substations, and transformers that move electricity across the country.

Authorities say weaknesses in the transmission network remain one of the main obstacles to improving Nigeria’s electricity supply.

Information Minister Mohammed Idris said the president has identified transmission as a central problem in efforts to address the country’s long-standing power crisis.

Even when generation capacity is available, limitations in the transmission grid often prevent electricity from being fully delivered to distribution companies and end users.

According to the Nigerian newspaper The Punch, establishing the new company could require legislation from Parliament. The proposal is currently under review by a government committee tasked with examining its legal and financial implications.

The initiative comes as the federal government continues broader reforms in the power sector. In late January, authorities announced they had raised 501 billion naira (about $360 million) through a bond issuance to help settle part of the sector’s accumulated debts.

These arrears include payments owed to power producers and other participants across the electricity value chain.

At the same time, the government has begun reforming how electricity subsidies are financed. Abuja has said the federal government will no longer bear the full cost of subsidies and is calling on state governments to contribute.

The change is part of wider efforts to ease fiscal pressure linked to supporting electricity tariffs.

Abdel-Latif Boureima