The Director-General (DG), Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Mr. Asishana Okauru, has provided an empowerment programme for about 20 youths in Igarra, Akoko-Edo, Edo State.
In an interview, the NGF DG, Okauru, noted that the skill acquisition programme was a way of giving back to his hometown as part of activities to celebrate his 60th birthday.
The programme included a three-day theoretical and practical professional photography session that was held from Jan. 6 to 8.
About 20 youths were taught the rudiments of photography and also had some practical sessions to arouse their interest in photography.
The photography training was facilitated by award-winning photographer and foremost Nikon Photography School Instructor in Lagos, Paul Odijie, who won the documentary photographer of the year 2021 and had over 20 years of experience in the art of photography.
Odijie won the prestigious Nikon Nigeria First Choice Photographer in 2015 and has had his works published on different platforms, including an exhibition at ESTATE FOTOGRAFIA, 2020 in Siracusa, Italy.
He currently focuses on documentary-art, landscape, and portrait photography and teaches professional photography both in groups and one-on-one with several proteges as proof of his easy-to-understand training sessions.
To complement the training session, the NGF DG, Okauru, donated two Canon professional cameras to the youths who formed an online group supervised by Odijie.
The cameras are to be rotated among the youths once every week for continuous practice and mentorship by the instructor, Odijie.
Odijie remarked “I look forward to the growth of the youths from beginners to intermediate and then to advance level Photographers within a one year period under my mentorship.
“Especially as they focus on shooting the beauty of Igarra which is their focus during their learning and practice period.
“I also look forward to putting the works of the youths together as an exhibition later to show the beauty of their community, Igarra, Akoko-Edo,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries, Emmanuel Agbaje, a student of Auchi Polytechnic, Computer Science Department, shared his beautiful experience during the training session, which he captioned as amazing.
According to Emmanuel, he said: “To me, it was an amazing experience. I enjoyed it. The instructor related to me in the best way. I could easily understand the teachings.
“With that, I now have more passion for photography. I learned a lot from the lectures. To me, it’s an eye-opener for those of us who have a passion for photography.”
“Though photography is broad, everything was made easy for us under three days including the practicals and teachings which are superb,” he said
Onovome Ade-Ajayi, 20 years old, Mechanical Engineering and Technology graduate from the Federal Polytechnic of Auchi, thanked the organizers and the instructor for the training.
He noted that he would always remember the instructor with the deepest respect and affection for his efforts in making each lesson enjoyable and educational.
Your inspiring lessons gave my life direction. Thank you,” he commented.
Dorcas Ogbodo, a 20-year-old student of Rivers State College of Health, Department of Pharmacy, said she was indebted to the organizers and the instructor.
“I owe you some of the awesome photography works
“The 3-day training was awesome and I learned; I believed others had learned too; it is an opportunity for us to gain some basic key knowledge about handling the camera.
“The only issue was the time frame. It was short so we had to rush some things inside our brain though it worked,” she said.
Odijie’s works can also be found on his own Instagram page at www.instagram.com/paulodijie.
(NAN)
