By Danlami Nasir Isah
Engr. Ahmed Dikko was born in Zaria, Kaduna State on May 22, 1964 and he holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA), as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Management, a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration and Higher National Diploma (HND) in Chemical Engineering.
He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (NSCh.E) and was appointed as the MD of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC) in March 2020, with the principal task of delivering the rehabilitation project of the Refinery.
The objective of the Project is to bring the facilities to optimal production capacity and sustainable operations. Phase 1 of the rehabilitation project, which is the integrity study and inspection has been completed, and the Project is in the second Phase with the signing of the EPC contract for the rehabilitation with Maire Tecnimont SpA.
He had pushed the rehabilitation to over 65% completion before he was further given the responsibility to advise the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPC Limited on refineries rehabilitation.
In this role, he advised the GCEO on rehabilitation of all the refineries owned by NNPC. The four refineries- two in Port Harcourt, one in Warri and Kaduna, respectively- are currently undergoing one form of revamping or the other. The aim is to bring back in-country refining in the shortest possible time.
Prior to his current appointment, while working as MD of PHRC, Engr. Dikko acted as the Group Executive Director (GED), Refineries and Petrochemicals from the period of August to November 2022. He was quoted as saying in one of his media interviews that his greatest goal and accomplishment is to assist the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL to bring back the nation’s refineries to life as soon as possible.
Engr. Ahmed Dikko has extensive knowledge in Project Management, Process Engineering and Plant Operations. He joined NNPC in 1986 and began his career at the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company Limited, where he worked in the Operations and Engineering & Technical Services Departments.
He rose to the position of Superintendent Process Engineer and participated in many process improvements in the refinery. Dikko was transferred to the then newly formed Nigerian Content Division in the Corporate Headquarters of NNPC in Abuja as one of the pioneer engineers in 2005.
He was then seconded to NLNG in 2006 for the commissioning of the Train 6 Project and this signified the beginning of a successful career within the LNG business which spanned over 14 years. In 2010, he returned to the LNG Division at the Corporate Headquarters in Abuja, where he worked on the Brass LNG Project and rose to the position of Manager.
Engr. Dikko was appointed General Manager, New LNG Projects in 2016, with the task to develop other LNG opportunities, such as the Floating LNG, Small Scale LNG and the utilization of domestic LNG in Nigeria. In 2018, he was redeployed to the office of General Manager, NLNG in the LNG Division. While manning that position, Dikko worked closely with other Shareholders of NLNG and the Company to achieve the Final Investment Decsion (FID) for the Train 7 Expansion Project, which has been on the drawing board for over 13 years.
During his time in the LNG Department, he brought about improvements in the Governance processes which ensured that NNPC derived maximum benefits from her investments across the whole LNG value chain, including gas supply to midstream investment and for the first time, downstream products uptake and marketing of LNG for NNPC. Engr. Dikko acted as the Group General Manager (GGM) LNG before his appointment as MD, PHRC.
In the course of Engr. Dikko’s career in NNPC, he has received commendations, recognitions and awards. Notable among them are the GMDs commendation for roles as a pioneer engineer of the Nigerian Content Division; MD, NLNG commendation for the successful commissioning of Train 6 and recently, GMDs commendation for roles in the achievement of the FID for Train 7 expansion Project of NLNG.
Engr. Dikko was nominated and voted as the ‘Most Innovative Public Servant of the Year’ at the Democracy Heroes Award 2021.
