Akilu obtained his first degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. He then joined LafargeHolcim Cement PLC, first as a junior Methods/Reliability engineer and later as the Maintenance Team Leader on a multi-million pounds coal grinding plant project.

In 2008, Akilu moved to the UK for his MSc in Maintenance Engineering and Asset Management (now known as Reliability Engineering and Asset Management) at the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE). Upon completing his MSc in 2009, Akilu rejoined LafargeHolcim where he served as training and learning manager; health and safety manager; and maintenance manager.

In late 2012, Akilu returned to the University of Manchester for his PhD in Condition Monitoring of Rotating Machines, with particular interest in the development of data fusion techniques that can simplify fault detection and classification. During this time, he authored and reviewed several research articles published in internationally recognised journals and conference proceedings. Akilu has been a lecturer in Plant Reliability and Maintenance Engineering within the School of MACE since November 2015. 

• Chartered engineer with Engineeering Council UK (CEng)
• Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE)
• Memeber of IMechE Safety and Reliability Working Group (SRWG)
• Member of the British Standards Institute (BSI) e-Committees
• Registered engineer with the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (REng)
• Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (MNSE)
• Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (MNIM)

• Maintenance management
• Operations management
• Turnaround/shutdown/outage management
• Maintenance life cycle cost analysis
• Spare parts movement and optimisation
• Total productive maintenance (TPM)
• Reliability centred maintenance (RCM)
• Condition based maintenance (CBM)
• Multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA)
• Faults detection and diagnosis
• Failure and accident investigation
• Industrial machinery condition monitoring data fusion

European Federation of National Maintenance Societies (EFNMS)

Excellence award for best master's thesis  in maintenance engineering from the United Kingdom (2010)

http://www.mace.manchester.ac.uk/news/news-archive/achievements-and-awards-archive/efnms-excellence-award-for-master-thesis-in-maintenance.htm

Teaching/ and unit co-ordinator for various MSc and UG (approximately 400 students) units within MACE

• Lecturer and unit co-ordinator for asset maintenance systems (MSc REAM)
• Lecturer and unit co-ordinator for asset management strategy and organisation (MSc REAM)
• Lecturer and unit co-ordinator for operations management (UG mechanical, aerospace and civil engineering students).