From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Unemployment has been identified as a major challenge facing Nigerian youths. And restiveness and insecurity have been linked to unemployment. After all, it is said that a hungry man is an angry man. It is also said that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop.
So, in an attempt to help in tackling youth unemployment Fawole Oluwadamilare, the special assistant on documentation to the Minister of Mines and Steel, Chief Olamilekan Adegbite, organised a two-day training and empowerment workshop for 60 photographers in Abia State.
The workshop, tagged, “Beyond Light and Shadow,” was used to expose the participating photographers to an avalanche of opportunities in the photography industry and creative sector at large. It was also used to prepare the participants against unemployment in Nigeria.
Speaking with journalists, Oluwadamilare explained that his love for photography and the creative sector inspired his decision to organize the programme. He said the programme would go round, having kicked off in Nasarawa State recently. According to him, it would be held in every geopolitical zone of the country.
Oluwadamilare charged the photographers to utilize the training they received towards transforming their professionalism and create jobs. He promised that 300 more persons would benefit from the workshop by the time it is concluded.
The special assistant commended his principal for encouraging his pet project, while urging Nigerian youths to appropriate creative opportunities around them.
Minister of State for Mines and Steel, Dr. Uche Ogah, identified with Oluwadamilare’s objective of using photography to tackle youth unemployment.
The minister, who was represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Kelechi Ekugo, commended the organizers and participants for the successful workshop, while urging the photographers to apply everything they studied to improve their professionalism.
Ogah, who identified youth unemployment as a big challenge in Nigeria, however, promised that new avenues were being explored to tackle the problem.
Members of Abia State Professional Photographers Association (ASPPA) were not left out. Their president, Mr. Dende Enyid, described the workshop as the best thing to happen to the association in recent times as, according to him, “Our mental horizon has been enlarged through this two-day training and we request that this experience be repeated for us in no distant time.”
The president of Abia photographers also used the opportunity to appeal to Ogah to come to the aid of his members by donating a bus to them to aid their mobility as well to extend financial support to their 2021 photographers’ celebration week.
Highlights of the training included the award of a modern Canon camera to Mr. Chibuike Onyediako for submitting the best photo shots, while two other participants, Okechukwu Magnus and Paul Ogah, also received photography materials from Oluwadamilare for their outstanding works.