Unveiling Nigeria’s hidden treasures: Tale of British-trained Photographer

Nigeria, popularly known as the Giant of Africa, is endowed with immense tourism attractions capable of attracting international tourists and investors.

The black nation, covering an area of about 923,769 square kilometres, with a population estimated to be over 230 million, is the most populous country in Africa and the world’s

sixth-most populous country.

Nigeria, with its numerous beautiful landscape, waterfalls, caves, hills, creeks, rock formations, green vegetation, beaches, culture, arts and crafts, could yield huge economic benefits when these tourism potentialities are adequately explored.

British-trained Nigerian documentary photographer, Dayo Adedayo, expresses great love for his Fatherland , investing his resources in documenting Nigerian tourism sites.

Adedayo, also a Cultural Anthropologist and Author, describes Nigeria as the most beautiful country in the world, but most difficult to photograph due to the series of bottlenecks he encountered while documenting Nigerian tourism potentials in photography.

Speaking extensively on the enormous tourism opportunities in the country, Adedayo says Nigeria has no business being poor neither does any of its citizens.

He says having gone round the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory , the 774 local government areas in the last 21 years, there are lots of tales of hidden treasures to unravel to Nigerians, who remain unconscious of the immense opportunities they live with.

He further explained that Ogun State should be considered the religious hub of the nation, where religious tourism could be developed for wealth creation.

Adedayo explained that churches and Islamic gatherings that accommodate the largest members were all located in Ogun State.

He says government needs to look in this direction of developing religious tourism in Nigeria, which can be a money spinner for the nation.

“Ogun State should be the “Jerusalem” and “Mecca” of Nigeria. All the largest churches in Nigeria are domiciled in Ogun, the Redeemed Christian Church of God that attracts at least one million visitors every month is there.

“The largest Islamic gathering is also in Ogun State, the Living Faith Church, with their large congregation; the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) , which used to be the largest church in the world is also in Ogun.

“The founder of this church was also buried in Imeko, Ogun, where adherents go to yearly for ‘pilgrimage’ of sorts; the biblical Queen Sheba was also buried in Oke-Eiri, Ijebu area of in same Ogun State. The same Ijebu-Ode hosts an annual “carnival” Ojude-Oba.

“These are iconic structures and beautiful potentialities to develop religious tourism in Nigeria.

“Saudi Arabia generates a minimum of $20 billion from religious tourism annually.

“Jerusalem and Israel are also making a lot of money from religious tourism, Nigeria needs to look in this direction,” he said.

Speaking on the traditional religion, known as “Ifa”, Adedayo says Ifa is the fastest growing religion in Mexico and Cuba, which could be related to developing one of Nigeria’s United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage sites- the Osun Osogbo groove.

The professional photographer still speaking on the beauty of the nation, Nigeria, said every geo-political zone of the nation could boast of at least a unique tourism asset.

He says the South East region should be proud of the numerous breath-taking and beautiful caves like Ogba-Ukwu, Awhum, Arochukwu and Amanchor caves.

“The South-South will be proud of the lovely creeks in the Niger-Delta. The North-Central ordinarily should have been the richest zone in Nigeria due to the huge tourism potential domiciled there.

“We have the Katampe hills, Zuma Rock, and Farin Ruwa- the most spectacular waterfall in Nigeria, located in Nasarawa State.

“In the North East we have the Kurara hills, Sukur heritage site and more. And in the North-West, we have the Sokoto Museum, the best in terms of content.

“Lagos is also massive for tourism, it is the Athens of Africa, with numerous historical heritage sites, the Lagos Island is full of historical colonial heritage sites that can be tapped.

“The largest monument ever built- Sungbo-Eredo heritage site in Epe is also a beautiful one, we have several beaches and clubs in Lagos,” he said.

Speaking on his challenges, Adedayo says he has been arrested several times while trying to take photographs of iconic tourism sites within the country.

He said at another occasion, his expensive camera got damaged as particles of sand dunes got into the lens.

He said Nigerians had to change their perception of the tourism industry, as the industry should be seen as a huge economic booster that could be embraced by any individual.

He explained that marketing Nigeria at this point of her development should be encouraged, government should encourage photographers to take pictures of tourism sites.

“Photographing Nigeria has been a life project for me, I started documenting Nigeria in 2003, that was my first time in Abuja and I was blown away with what I saw, how beautiful Abuja was, sparsely populated and the greenery.

“Going on top of the hills, seeing the green vegetation, the black tarred roads and the white demarcation marks, so beautiful, that was what developed my interest in photographing Nigeria.

“I also observed that countries like Kenya, South Africa and Ghana have books about their nation but I didn’t see a book on Nigeria, that was what made me develop interest in documenting Nigeria.

“And 21 years after, I have over 4 million Nigerian images in my archives, travelling by road to states, Nigeria is indeed a beautiful country with beautiful landscapes,” he said.

According to Adedayo, the most captivating of these tourism sites in Nigeria is the Mambilla Plateau, located in Taraba State, which measures 122 km from its bottom to the top.

He said right on the plateau, he could sight the cloud coming towards him, describing the experience as heavenly.

“Right there at the Mambilla Plateau, I said to myself, “We are not selling Nigeria, we need to market this beautiful nation”.

“In Asia, China is the largest and their economy is booming, Germany is the largest in Europe with a booming economy, so what happened to Nigeria, the largest in Africa?.

“We must tap into our tourism potentialities and the other non-tangible assets we have to occupy treasured positions.

“So at age 60, am trying to lay a legacy to establish an experience centre that would be named, Dayo Adedayo Photography (DAP) Experience Centre, where over 10 million images of this beautiful Nigeria will be domiciled for generations yet unborn to see our civilisation.

“There will be a museum and a boat room in the experience centre, where people can virtually have same experience I had when I was in the Niger-Delta creeks. It is a beautiful country and we need to sell ourselves,” he explained.

According to Adedayo, the experience centre located in Lekki, Lagos, is currently under construction and would be completed and ready for use before the third quarter of 2025.

He said building of the experience centre was designed to last over 200 years, to survive the worst kind of earthquakes, and its fittings also designed to be anti-rust because of its location.

“I plan to build at least six of the experience centres, one in each geo-political zone. This is meant to inspire the younger ones, so that they can aspire to achieve more than me.

“There at the DAP Experience Centre, we will have the digital floor where documentary of Nigeria will be constantly aired, there will be children’s arena for them to learn the history of Nigeria, also the history and evolution of photography and videography will be on display,” he explained.

Adedayo says Nigerians should project the positive image of the nation more, change their wrong perception about Nigeria and begin to think and talk positive of the nation.

He says their negative thoughts about Nigeria would affect their progress on the land, while every positive thought would definitely go a long way in making them realise their goals.