Ahmed Dikko: Host communities’ support key to successful rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery

Ahmed Dikko, managing director of Port Harcourt refinery company (PHRC), says the support of host communities will contribute to the success of the rehabilitation of the refinery.

In May, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) commenced the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers state.

This was after the federal executive council (FEC) approved the sum of $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation.

The repair, which will be executed by Tecnimont SPA, an Italian company, will be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months, respectively.

Dikko, who said the PHRC is already engaging the host communities, expressed optimism that they will support the project.

“Host communities’ engagement is one of the key priorities for the success of this project and PHRC management recognises this right from the earlier days of the award of this contract and has done a lot in this regard through the public affairs,” he said.

“The first is to put out the information correctly about this project, and the second is to manage the expectations of the communities.

“The approach that we are using is to get the communities to buy into the project and be part of it. So much has been covered and I’m delighted with the way we are going. We are going to have the support of the communities.

“The contractors themselves have nominated a community representative that is working closely with our public affairs team in the manner to ensure that the right information is given to the communities.

“Everybody is part of the rehabilitation project, and in whatever department you are, you must contribute your own to make sure that we truly succeed.

“Whether you are in the human resources, engineering, or admin department; there is a role for you in the project, and I’m happy that the staff have taken it on, and are looking forward to the actual commencement of activities physically.

“We have gone further again to keep knowledge sharing so that everybody will understand clearly what the project is about, and also the scope of work that we want to do. That way, we’ll have a role to play as it goes on.”

Dikko also said the rehabilitation of the refinery will be completed as scheduled, adding that the contractors have been given what they need to get the project done.

“It is not a small thing knowing full well that all specs of all the equipment and everything therein that will make the contractor succeed have to be given; all the documentation that we have. So, we have done that; we’ve given thousands of documents to the contractor,” he said.