Why I Left Oil & Gas – Actor, Daniel Etim Effiong, The Nollywood Actor Opens Up

For a lot of Nigerian creatives working today, it is no surprise that the work they’re doing in the creative field is not what they went to school for. As most Nigerians know, when you go to school, you are highly encouraged to pick courses that are deemed ‘practical’, like medicine, business, or anything that can get you a good job immediately you come out of school.

One such course is engineering, and one of the most sought after industries to work in Nigeria, is the oil & gas industry as it is said to make a lot of money.

Yet, Nollywood actor Daniel Etim Effiong, who had a good career in oil & gas, decided to leave his engineering training and oil & gas job to go into working as an actor. During a new interview with The Nation, Daniel Etim-Effiong opens up about why he left the oil & gas sector to work as an actor in Nollywood. Here is what the talented actor had to say.

Speaking about why he left oil and gas to go into acting as a profession, Daniel Etim Effiong said:

DANIEL ETIM EFFIONG: Initially, it was a struggle for me to make the switch because I was used to the structure of a 9 to 5. The salary and income and making the switch to entertainment was a walk of faith.

I had prayed about it and spoken to a very few people about it, I also fasted and prayed and felt God was giving me the go ahead to take the leap of faith and that was it. I had thought about it for a long time but I could not do it but the moment I took time to pray and fast, I felt God was leading me to go ahead and I just did it.

I did have some background in acting although most of my training was not formal, it was informal. My training was mostly acting in drama groups and clubs in secondary school and also in the university, I did some acting in church. My acting was mostly in drama clubs and church. Even in school, I was a science student and I studied engineering so it was not like I was trained for acting. All the acting I did was in extra curricular activities.

Source: Jide Okonjo

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