26–28 April 2027 · Obi Wali International Conference Centre, Port Harcourt, Nigeria Abstracts close 31 Dec 2026 · Submit an abstract
Programme

Three days, nine tracks

A pre-conference workshop day, two days of plenary and parallel technical sessions, an exhibition floor, and the Decade Awards gala.

How it runs

The shape of the three days

Day one is hands-on. Days two and three alternate between the whole room and parallel tracks, so a delegate can follow one discipline all the way through or move across sectors.

Everything is built around a single editorial rule that has held for ten editions: a presentation must report a result, not a product. If a paper cannot show what number moved and by how much, it does not go on the programme.

01

Monday 26 April

Workshop day. Six parallel 90-minute masterclasses, hands-on and capped for interaction. Welcome reception in the evening.

02

Tuesday 27 April

Opening plenary and technical tracks. Keynotes, the decade retrospective, four parallel streams, exhibition floor open. Decade Awards gala dinner.

03

Wednesday 28 April

Technical tracks and closing. Parallel streams, the alumni homecoming session, best paper award and closing plenary.

Technical programme

Nine tracks

Papers are accepted into one of nine streams. Two are new for the tenth edition.

01 · Reliability Engineering & RCM

Criticality analysis, FMEA, RCM and PM optimisation. Weibull and failure data in environments where the data is imperfect.

02 · AI, Digitalisation & Industry 4.0

Predictive maintenance, IIoT, digital twins and machine learning — with deployment economics, not demonstrations.

03 · Asset Integrity & Corrosion

Risk-based inspection, corrosion management, pipeline and facility integrity under a tightening regulatory regime.

04 · Power Generation & Utilities

Availability economics for grid, IPP, captive generation and water. Outage planning and turbine reliability.

05 · Manufacturing & Process

TPM, OEE, autonomous maintenance and world-class manufacturing in cement, FMCG, petrochemicals and food.

06 · Asset Management & ISO 55001

Line of sight from corporate objective to work order. Certification journeys, asset criticality and whole-life costing.

07 · Lubrication, CBM & Diagnostics

Vibration analysis, oil analysis, thermography, ultrasound and motor testing. Programmes that paid for themselves.

08 · Heavy Mobile, Fleet & Materials Handling New

Cranes, RTGs and reach stackers. Haul trucks, loaders, crushers and conveyors. Construction and drilling plant. Duty cycles, hydraulics, structural fatigue, spares under high utilisation and fleet availability.

09 · People, Competence & Leadership Expanded

Building and retaining a maintenance workforce, competence frameworks, certification pathways and leading culture change.

Cross-cutting: sustainability

Energy efficiency, emissions and life extension are treated as a lens across all nine tracks rather than as a separate stream. A paper on compressor reliability that also reports an energy saving belongs in track 07, not in a sustainability ghetto.

Day by day

Provisional schedule

Session titles are confirmed as papers are accepted. Timings below are the fixed frame within which the programme is built.

Monday 26 April — Workshop Day

Pre-conference · separately ticketed
08:00–09:00

Registration and coffee

Workshop packs, badge collection, exhibitor move-in continues.

09:00–10:30

Masterclass block A

Three parallel 90-minute masterclasses. Capped attendance.

10:30–11:00

Refreshment break

Exhibition floor preview.

11:00–12:30

Masterclass block A continues

12:30–13:30

Lunch

13:30–16:30

Masterclass block B

Three further parallel masterclasses, including the CMRP examination preparation intensive.

17:00–19:00

Welcome reception

Opening of the exhibition floor. Alumni from editions one to nine especially welcome.

Tuesday 27 April — Opening & Technical Day One

Plenary · four parallel tracks · gala
08:00–09:00

Registration and networking

09:00–09:30

Opening ceremony

Convener's welcome. Chairman's address. Ministerial or regulatory goodwill message.

09:30–10:15

Opening keynote

Asset stewardship as national economic infrastructure. Senior operator leadership.

10:15–11:00

The Decade Retrospective

What ten years of this conference actually changed on Nigerian plants — and what it did not. Panel of long-standing delegates and speakers.

11:00–11:30

Refreshment break

Exhibition floor.

11:30–13:00

Parallel technical sessions — block 1

Tracks 01, 02, 03, 04 running concurrently. Three papers per track.

13:00–14:00

Networking lunch

14:00–14:45

International keynote

Global practice, held against West African operating reality.

14:45–16:15

Parallel technical sessions — block 2

Tracks 05, 06, 07, 08 running concurrently.

16:15–16:45

Refreshment break

16:45–17:45

Executive plenary panel

Operators, regulator and OEM leadership on the maintenance capability gap and who is responsible for closing it.

19:00–22:30

The Decade Awards Gala Dinner

Reliability Excellence Awards, including the tenth-anniversary Lifetime Contribution award. Black tie or traditional.

Wednesday 28 April — Technical Day Two & Close

Four parallel tracks · closing plenary
09:00–09:40

Morning keynote

AI and the maintenance function: what it is genuinely doing, and what is still a slide.

09:40–11:10

Parallel technical sessions — block 3

Tracks 01, 02, 07, 09 running concurrently.

11:10–11:40

Refreshment break

Final exhibition browse.

11:40–12:40

Women in Maintenance & Reliability

Hosted in partnership with APWEN. Building the female maintenance engineering pipeline, with bursary delegates in the room.

12:40–13:20

Young Professionals & Start-Up showcase

Under-35 engineers and early-stage maintenance technology, judged by a delegate panel.

13:20–14:20

Networking lunch

14:20–15:50

Parallel technical sessions — block 4

Tracks 03, 04, 05, 06 running concurrently.

15:50–16:40

Alumni Homecoming

Speakers and delegates from the first nine editions, on what a decade changed in their own plants.

16:40–17:15

Best Paper Award and closing plenary

Communiqué, handover to the eleventh edition, close.

Recognition

The Decade Awards

The Reliability Excellence Awards return for the tenth edition, with one new category.

Entries are free, open to any organisation operating in Africa, and judged by an independent panel against evidence — a submitted case with numbers, not a nomination form. Shortlisted entries are notified in March and presented at the gala dinner on 27 April.

Award entry opens 1 November 2026 and closes 28 February 2027.

Reliability Transformation of the Decade New

Best Predictive Maintenance Programme

Digital Maintenance Innovation

Asset Integrity Excellence

Maintenance Cost Optimisation

Reliability Leadership — Individual

Young Reliability Professional of the Year

Lifetime Contribution to Reliability in Africa

Call for papers

Present at the tenth

Abstracts of 300 to 500 words. Deadline 31 December 2026.

We are looking for work that reports an outcome. A programme you ran, a failure you solved, a number that moved — availability, maintenance cost, energy, safety, backlog. Case studies from operating plants are given priority over theoretical papers, and West African case material is given priority over imported examples.

What to include

  • Title, and the track you are submitting to
  • Author name, job title, organisation and country
  • 300–500 word abstract stating the problem, the approach and the measured result
  • Whether you are proposing a 20-minute technical paper, a panel contribution or a 90-minute masterclass

Key dates

1 October 2026Call for papers opens
1 November 2026Award entries open
31 December 2026Abstract deadline
31 January 2027Acceptances notified
28 February 2027Award entries close
15 March 2027Full papers and presentations due
31 March 2027Early-bird registration closes
9 April 2027Final programme published

Accepted presenters receive a 25% discount on delegate registration. Presenters are responsible for their own travel and accommodation unless invited as a keynote.

Submit an abstract

Or email it directly to learn@tmiafrica.org.

Accreditation

CPD and certification

Attendance is structured continuing professional development, not a discretionary trip.

BodyRecognition
SMRPUp to 24 CPE points toward CMRP recertification
CORENAccepted as structured CPD evidence
NSE / MNSEAccepted as structured CPD evidence
IMechEAccepted as structured CPD evidence
IEEEAccepted as structured CPD evidence
ASMRA24 structured hours, logged automatically in member records

Hours: up to 24 structured CPD hours across the three conference days, or 32 including the pre-conference workshop day. The workshop day alone carries 8 hours.

Certificates are issued within five working days of the closing session. Accreditation is confirmed annually with each body ahead of the event; the position above reflects the most recent edition.

Reserve your place

Early-bird registration closes 31 March 2027. Group rates apply from five delegates.