Obaji Akpet
Script error: No such module "AfC submission catcheck".
| Obaji Akpet | |
|---|---|
 Obaji Akpet.jpg Akpet in 2021 | |
| Born | Obaji Abung Akpet October 13, 1985 Olulumo, Ikom, Cross River, Nigeria |
| 🎓 Alma mater | University of Calabar (BA) |
| 💼 Occupation | Journalist, filmmaker |
| 📆 Years active | 2009–present |
| Notable work |
|
| 🌐 Website | obajiakpet |
Obaji Akpet (born October 13, 1985) is a Nigerian journalist, activist, filmmaker and media entrepreneur. He was born Obaji Abung Akpet but often omits his middle name when giving credit to his works.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Akpet hails from Olulumo, a small community by the bank of river Cross, where Cross River State of Nigeria gained her name from. Olulumo also called Okuni is a community 275 km (171 mi) from Calabar. Born into a polygamous home, Akpet is the fourth child of nine children. His parents; Abung Obaji Akpet (Snr) and Margaret were class room teachers turned cocoa farmer while his mom worked with the Nigeria Civil Service Commission as community health worker (but now retired).[2]
Akpet holds a bachelor's degree in Linguistics and Communication Studies at the University of Calabar awarded him in 2014. He started his career as a filmmaker after taking up crash courses in filmmaking with focus on screenwriting and documentary production.[2]
Career[edit]
In 2009, Akpet began his career as a journalist for local newspapers in Nigeria including Nigerian Chronicle, Cross River Watch and contributing to The Nations. According to an account published on MasterClass.com, a US based film school to honour him as student of the month of October 2019, Akpet was correspondent for Champion Newspaper (engaged in 2016) and also owned a photography studio in Calabar when in 2017 he was forced to flee his hometown in southern Nigeria after he reported a story that exposed corruption in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which fingered Prof. Isaac Adewale, the then Nigeria's Health Minister. Akpet fled traveling across West African countries. Throughout his journey, Akpet was said to have felt deeply inspired to tell the stories of the people and places he encountered. He wanted to tell them through films. When Akpet returned to Lagos he began self-teaching depending on online resources and in February 2018, he won his first documentary film commission at ZoomIn TV, a leading online TV platform in Europe where he filmed ‘Meet the mentor for the lost kids.’[3][1]
October 2020, Akpet pitched an original investigation at the BBC Africa Eye, which he also joined Katie Mark (the producer and director) in the film's making while also performing the undercover for and joined as a character in the film with BBC's Yemisi Adegoke as the presenter.[4] The documentary which Mark, Yemisi and him did was titled 'Retirement Hell' and released on May 3, 2021. Retirement Hell exposed an ineffective and corrupt pension system in Nigeria, which leaves some elderly people sick and penniless, yet grants some politicians outrageous retirement packages.[5]
Aside from being a journalist Akpet is known to have taken up roles as publicist to celebrities and events including former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Isabella Ayuk and extended his publicist role to Cross River Most Beautiful Girl, Ayuk's flagship pageant after her reign as most beautiful girl.[6]
In 2013, Akpet founded Cross River Film Agency[7] now Tell Africa Media.[8]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Important things to know about Cross River born filmmaker Obaji Akpet as he turns 34 | The Paradise News". theparadise.ng. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Negroidhaven. "Obaji Akpet headlines LINCOMSA press week, as he gets honoured on 31st birthday | Negroid Haven". Retrieved 2021-11-06.
- ↑ "Zoomin.TV". zoomin.tv. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
- ↑ "'Retirement hell' for Nigeria's pensioners". BBC News. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
- ↑ "BBC documentary exposes pension corruption". Daily Trust. 2021-05-04. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
- ↑ "18 girls make list of Cross River Most Beautiful Girl pageant 2015". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 2015-06-15. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
- ↑ admin (2013-10-27). "Cross River State Gets Film Agency". CrossRiverWatch. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
- ↑ "Beverly Osu to grace CRFA opening". The Nation Newspaper. 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
This article "Obaji Akpet" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Obaji Akpet. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
