The new Chairman of the Lagos Chapter of the Photojournalists Association of Nigeria (PJAN), Ademola Akinlabi, has promised to ensure the enhancement of skills of members during his tenure.
In an interview with mediacareerng.org after his election, Akinlabi said he will sustain and improve on efforts regarding professional development.
“Success belongs to everybody because we are one and we have been working on one goal; development and professional enhancement, which are our core values. That was the reason behind the success of the election held and swearing –in,” Akinlabi said.
The Chairman who was re-elected unopposed said more seminars and workshops for professional development and enhancement embarked upon since last two years will be held.
“We realized that majority of photojournalists base their lives on office assignments. Although you’ll do your assignment but let your major focus be your personal project rather than press conference assignments,” Akinlabi reiterated.
The turn out for the election was very low as only 37, majority of whom were veterans, out of the over 300 members attended.
While acknowledging that the turn out of members for the election was low, Akinlabi who is Photo Editor of National Mirror said one thing paramount to each member is the depth of love among them.
“At times we make use of veterans for photo talk. During this photo talk, we invite senior colleagues who have been in the profession for many years to come and talk to us on how they survived in their own days of journalism. They always show up during election because they came up with PJAN and they would not want PJAN to go down.”
“Their aim is to also ensure the right people are voted in to critical positions, just like we have vacancy for post of secretary- veterans in photojournalism came together to deliberate on candidates fit to contest for the position and encouraged members to consider voting for the right person, which was why some members were voted unopposed,” PJAN chairman said.
Sylvester Okoruwa of Tribune won the post of secretary with 20 votes, while Benedict Uwalaka of Daily Trust had 17 votes. Okoruwa was later sworn-in with other executives.
