The History of CSN

Formerly known as Nigeria Society of cinematographers (NSC), the Cinematographers Society of Nigeria (CSN) was birthed in the late 90’s but inaugurated in 2002 at Checkmate Camp in Ikorodu, Lagos, with the unopposed selection of Mr. Isa Abubakar as the National President, an office he ran for over Ten years. Present at this innaugural meeting were other selected Executives and non-Executives alike; these include Byron Ene (Public Relation Officer), Lesly Yaoh (RIP), Muhammed McCurley (Secretary General), Steve Enahoro (Treasurer), Lucky Eromosele, Misan, Ngozi Nkebakwu, Muhammed Abdulai, Solomon Nwoko, Abraham Adetutu, and Eniola Davies.

The movement started with the collation of data of camera operators and nationwide visits to studios and television houses.  Some of those were Minaj Broadcast International, MITV (where Mr. Aduloju John, the current President was working at a time), NTA, Dolphin Studios, Klink Studios, Caver’s studios, Channels television.

The founding council were:

1. Amaka Igwe (late)
2. Zick Zulu
3. Tolu Agienoji

Many Industry stakeholders who were helpful in the growing of the society are:

1. Nkem Owoh
2. Kingsley Ogoro
3. Zico

After some years, there were calls for an election led by Tony Sam and late Osemeka, popularly known as “Osemeka Bro”.

The first Election was held in Lagos and the new executives were inaugurated as follows:

1. Ngozi Nkebakwu – National President
2. Byron Ene – Vice President
3. Aduloju John – Secretary General
4. Akinola Davies – PRO
5. Kelvin Black – Provost

The Association struggled to have their name registered by the Federal Government at this time, but this did not materialize until another team of executives assumed office. The new team (led by Afam Chiazor) also decided to change the name from NSC to CSN in the year 2014.

After the Leadership of Ngozi Nkebawu was another Election that brought in the new executives and New name was registered with council members as listed below:

1. Prince Afam Chiazor – National President
2. Aduloju John – National Vice President
3. Emmanuel Nwosun Chidiebere – General Secretary
4. Isaac Martins – Financial Secretary
5. Uzezi Apata – Treasurer
6. Kelvin Black – Welfare Officer

The Registered Council were:

1. Amaka Igwe (RIP)
2. Kingsley Ogoro
3. Tunde Kelani
4. Zik Zulu Okafor
5. Tolu Agienoji
6. Ibinabo Fiberesima
7. Afam Chiazor

This new leadership has been able to take the Association to a new level with design of Brand and Communication materials, expansion into other states, and a unified Bank Account, before the sudden demise of the National President, Prince Afam Chiazor who died and was buried on the 12th of November, 2016 in Delta State, Nigeria.

In accordance with the guiding policies of the group, the Vice President immediately stepped into the leadership and created more local presence, international collaborations, website registration and reconciliation of CSN’s registration with the CAC. He built a structure for new membership inductions, online registration, and registration with the National Film and Video Censors Board.

Furthermore, there are plans for review and amendment of the current CSN constitution, code of ethic white paper, and the affiliation with the world cinematographers society group called IMAGO International federation of Cinematographers.

The Association is proud of over 400 members across 5 regions.

The newly launched official website of the society provides a system of registration and profiling of individual members based on their preferred membership category. Intending members apply through the registration portal of the site and await application aproval after submission of their entry. Membership is then granted/denied based on the outcome of the governing board’s review of the individual’s application. Membership is either by referral from two executives or personal request with two active members as sureties, approval is subjected to findings, qualification assessment, and Professional and behavioral background checks.