Dickson Evbagharu Oriakhi is a Professor of Economics and current Deputy Centre Leader (Procurement) of the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards.

He joined the University of Benin in 1990 and assisted in the introduction and sustenance of the Banking and Finance programme under the Department of Economics and Statistics and coordinated the part-time programmes in Banking and Finance from 1994 to 2004.

In 2010, he was appointed Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, a position he held until he was made Head, Department of Economics from 2011 to 2014. He was then elected Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences in 2016 and he graciously relinquished the position in 2018. He represented the Faculty of Social Sciences in the Postgraduate School Board of Studies, University of Benin from 2008 to 2016. He also served as Academic Board member of other Institutions. Notable amongst these are the African Economic Research Consortium AERC, Nairobi (2011 – 2014) and the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, Abuja (2016 – 2018).

His research interests in Public Finance and Public Sector Economics have resulted in over 45 publications in local and international refereed journals and his lectures in Public Finance and Public Sector Economics are strongly intertwined with the provision of public goods and services and public provision of infrastructure. Professor Oriakhi has participated in several international conferences.  Two of such conferences are the 5th OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy on “Transforming Policy, Changing Lives” in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2015 and the Africa/UK Forum on the Human and Social Dimensions of Innovation and Development at Lancaster University, UK in July, 2017.