The Labour Party Candidate in the Ibadan North West/South West Federal Constituency in the 2023 general election, Hon. Sunday Oni, has sponsored over 200 participants who participated in the just concluded 2023 Nigeria Photo-Cinema Exposition (NPC EXPO), gave out a sum of #100,000 cash prize and a camera lens to a participant.
NPC is a yearly program, started in year 2021. The program is mainly for people in the cinematography and photography industry.
This year’s event took place at Jogor Event Centre. The two days event occurred on April 25-26, with the theme: Exploring the Boundaries of Photo-Cinema.
According to Sunday Oni, CEO of Broadnet Concept and also the convener of the NPC Expo, this year’s Expo is a bit different from the last two editions. Participants usually pay to attend, but he sponsored all the participants and allow them to participate without paying a dime.
“This is part of my contribution to support and empower youths and entrepreneurs in the country.
“This year is two days, we did a photo work on the first day of the event, during which we asked participants to take their best shots. Then the best picture went home with 100,000 nairas and with the Canon camera lens. The purpose of that photo shoots is not for the competition, but to document the city of Ibadan. Because there are a lot of places that we think governments can turn to make money.
“Places like Eleyele River, we believe people we use for tourism centers, also Dugbe Railway Station, Bowers Tower, and Mapo Hall. That’s why we choose those locations in particular. We have fantastic pictures which we are going to share on our social media page starting tomorrow.
“Today, which is the 2nd day, we have a master class, and we have great trainers like Shola Animashaun, which is a guru when it comes to documentaries, also, Rare Magic and Dexa b and likes of other brands with us, people are enjoying themselves and we thank God.
Speaking further, he highlighted the impact of the Expo, saying participants come from every part of the country.
“We have a lot of people from Lokoja, Kaduna, and even Abuja, and the testimonies have been wow!!!
“From the past editions, we have a lot of beginners that don’t have any idea when it comes to photography or cinematography and they started their career through this event and now they are professionals. After the general exposition I still run that six months of personal one-on-one training with some beginners and today they are professionals.
One of the participants Oreofe Johnson, who came from Lokoja, spoke to our correspondent.
“Yes, I have gained a lot. Especially yesterday when I went for the Photo walk. It was a platform for us to showcase our creativity.
Another participant from Ibadan, Esther Mbabi, said, it was just a reminder of how there are stories all around them everywhere. “You can tell stories with everything and anything. The fact that there are stories everywhere. I mean I knew it before, it was just reassured and reminded cos I’m a storyteller that there are stories everywhere. So that’s one thing I learned.
Bunmi Davids who’s also a participant from Ibadan said he experienced his first photo work ever at this event
“That was my first photo work. I was at Eleyele River and we took nice pictures and got to meet other photographers. Even though I stays in Ibadan and I didn’t know that we have a railway in Dugbe and had never been to Eleyele River also, it was fun.
