Jennifer Adighije, the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has been bestowed wit
Jennifer Adighije, the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has been bestowed with a Honorary Doctorate Degree from the City University of Paris as well as an induction as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management and Leadership.
Both honours were in recognition of her contributions to the Power sector growth in Nigeria.
These accolades are coming at a time when Jennifer took over the helm of affairs as the third MD of NDPHC, a company that requires extensive expertise and hands-on experience in the power sector. Unlike her predecessors, Jennifer has no prior leadership experience in the sector despite having worked in the power and energy sector as a transmission maintenance engineer at the now-defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and later Globacom as an NSS specialist, after which she worked with Helios Towers Nigeria, a telecommunication infrastructure company, as the head of operations and planning.
Not a few believe that her elevation from a Senior Special Assistant on Entrepreneurship Development in Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu before her elevation to head NDPHC, was nothing short of a payback to her father, Abia Senator, Chris Adighije, a member of the second national assembly, chairman, governing council and pro-chancellor of the Federal University, Lokoja and more importantly, a staunch chieftain of the All Progressives Congress who worked assiduously for Tinubu’s victory at the polls.
A graduate of Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Lagos with an M.Sc in Telecoms Networks from Queen Mary University of London, Jennifer once explored her entrepreneurial side when she floated a fashion house, House of Silk, a fabric retail and tailoring services company, in 2009 and was even named among the finalists in the Young Designer Category of the MTN Lagos Fashion and Design Week Awards in August 2012. This was after her time with Helios Towers ended on a sour note in 2010 following her termination of appointment over what the company termed as poor performance.
A few years after her foray in the fashion industry, Jennifer returned to the civil service as a value engineer and cost controller in the procurement department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). She served in that capacity from 2018 to September 2023 when she bagged her political appointment. Jennifer, who used to be married to Obiora Okolo, a US based medical doctor, is currently divorced.
