Twenty indigents youths from Igarra area, Akoko-Edo in Edo State are now beneficiaries of skill acquisition Programme sponsored by the Director General, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, Mr. Asishana Okauru.
According to Mr. Asishana Okauru, the skill empowerment acquisition was a way of giving back to his home youth as part of activities to mark his 60th birthday.
The programme included a-three day theoritical and practical professional Photography session that was held from January 6 to 8.
The youths were taken through the rudiments of photography and also had some practical session to arouse their interest in Photography.
A seasoned photographer of over 20 years experience, an award winning photographer and foremost Nikon Photography School Instructor in Lagos, Paul Odijie, who won the documentary photographer of the year 2021 facilitated training on art of photography at the intervention.
Odijie won the prestigious Nikon Nigeria First Choice Photographer in 2015 and has his works published on different platforms including an exhibition at ESTATE FOTOGRAFIA, 2020 in Siracusa, Italy.
Odijie currently focuses on Documentary-art, Landscape and Portrait Photography and teaches professional Photography both in groups and one-on-one with several proteges as prove of his easy-to-understand training sessions.
To compliment the training session, the NGF DG, Okauru also 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 said, “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 beneficiary Emmanuel Agbaje, a student of Auchi Polytechnic, Computer Science Department shared his experience during the training session which he described as amazing.
“To me, it was an amazing experience. I enjoyed it, the instructor relates with me in the best way I can easily understand the teachings better. “With that, I now have more passion for photography. I learnt a lot from the lectures. It’s an eye opener for those of us who have 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.
Another beneficiary, Onovome Ade-Ajayi, a-20-years old, Mechanical Engineering and Technology graduate from the Federal Polytechnic of Auchi, thanked the organisers 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, he said, “Your inspiring lessons gave my life direction, Thank you.”
Also, Dorcas Ogbodo, a 20 years-old student of Rivers State College of Health, Department of Pharmacy expressed her indebtedness to the organisers and the instructor.
““I owe you some of the awesome photography works. “The 3-day training was awesome and I learned; I believed others have learnt too; it is an opportunity for us to know 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
