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Nodash… fighting unemployment with the big screen

By Chuks Nwanne
13 January 2018   |   4:20 am
While most young Nigerians are still pursuing white-collar jobs that are difficult to come by these days, director/cinematographer Adekunle Adejuyigbe otherwise known as Nodash...

Nodash

While most young Nigerians are still pursuing white-collar jobs that are difficult to come by these days, director/cinematographer Adekunle Adejuyigbe otherwise known as Nodash, is comfortably making a living in the entertainment industry through his skill.

The cinematographer recently posted on his social media page: “it’s easy to keep ranting about the unemployment rate, but we can also use that energy to apply the knowledge and resources we have acquired over time into doing something about it.”

For now, Nodash’s plan is to empower between 70-100 young Nigerians this year, an initiative, which is inline with his resolve to help reduce the unemployment rate among young people.

“After directing my first feature film in 2012-2013, it became clear that there was a huge crew problem in the Nigerian film industry. So, we made a decision to recruit and train the most efficient film team in the country; that was how The Elite Film Team was born,” he hinted.

Recounting the achievements of the production firm, Nodash informed that some of the trainees from the firm have held key positions in major film productions in Nigeria, ranging from Fifty to Isoken, The Tribunal, The Bridge, as well as Hollywood funded projects such as Nigerian Prince, American King, MTV’s Shuga, GTBank sponsored GidiUp Season 3, as well as other films, documentaries and TV commercials.

To him, Nollywood, which is the second largest film industry in the world with over 2,000 films annually and employs about 1,000,000 people, has less than 10% of people competent on an international level. He noted that the job creation project is hinged on the need to have competent hands in the industry.

“With more competent people, Nollywood, which has become a multi-billion dollar sector, will experience faster growth,” he said.

Nodash, who was recently recognised by the Berlin Film Festival as one of the 21 emerging cinematographers in the world, further stated on his Instagram handle, “By December 2018, we plan to have recruited and trained three teams that can simultaneously handle three different film productions from pre-production to post-production. More importantly, we will be directly empowering between 70-100 Nigerians this year. We will make them not just employable, but also placing them at the top of every producer’s wish list,” he assured.

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