If you have ever held a Nigerian passport, turned its pages to inspect the intricate watermark designs, and marveled at the subtle, historic landscapes embedded within the paper, you have already carried a piece of Dayo Adedayo’s life’s work. You might not have known his name in that moment, but his vision was right there in your hands, quietly anchoring your national identity.
Dayo Adedayo is not merely a photographer taking pretty pictures; he is a chronicler of a nation’s soul. Having driven himself across all 36 states of Nigeria, navigating remote arterial roads, dusty bypasses, and lush river basins,
Adedayo has amassed an unprecedented archive of over four million images. It is a visual record unparalleled in scope, capturing the grand architecture of state power as intimately as the quiet dignity of rural life.
Sitting inside his newly birthed cultural monument, the DAP Experience Center in Lagos, Adedayo speaks with the quiet confidence of a man who has looked Nigeria directly in the eyes and refused to look away.
Beginnings and Defining Moments
Adedayo’s journey into professional photography did not start with a desire for commercial gain or social prestige. Mentored by industry stalwarts like the veteran editor Sumis Madko, Adedayo learned early that a photograph is only as powerful as the narrative it carries.
“Photography is what I do, but not just taking pictures. There’s always a story behind every image,” he reflects. “Nigeria has been very kind to me, extremely kind to me, and I have nothing but to give back to Nigeria.”
His education was forged on the open road. While many professionals relied on assigned chauffeurs, Adedayo took the steering wheel himself for 80 percent of his journeys across the country. That hands-on mobility granted him unmediated access to Nigeria’s diverse geography and people.
“I’ve moved with the movers and shakers of this country—there is no state governor, past or present, who has not sat in front of my lens,” he says. “But I have also moved with the lowest of the low. I don’t carry anything on my shoulder. I just do my work.”
Driven by a passion that bypassed traditional financial metrics, Adedayo insists he has never “worked” a single day since 1988. “All I do is go out and play, to take pictures,” he chuckles. “If someone buys my picture, that’s just an additional bonus. When you don’t see money as the primary driver, it frees you to capture truth.”
Preserving a Vanishing Heritage
For Adedayo, photography carries an urgent civic responsibility: to document a civilization before time, development, or neglect erases it. As physical landscapes transform under the pressure of modernization, the camera becomes the ultimate vault of collective memory.
He points to the rapid evolution of Lagos as a prime example. From the shifting coastlines to the changing facades along Ahmadu Bello Way and the iconic glasshouses of Victoria Island, Adedayo has meticulously documented “before and after” landscapes.
“A lot of people do not know where we are coming from, especially the younger generation,” he notes. “They do not have a clue of where Lagos was yesterday and what it is today. In years to come, there might be ten bridges across the lagoon, or the topography might change entirely. But at least we have captured the truth for posterity.”
His cultural crusade extends to unearthing forgotten heritage sites. In his upcoming 20th book, Adedayo documents Sungbo’s Eredo in Ogun State—the massive, 2,000-year-old earthwork system carbon-dated to antiquity and locally tied to the legendary Queen of Sheba (Bilikisu Sungbo). For the first time, his lens captures her sacred burial site nestled deep within a primary forest where, mysteriously, no falling leaf ever touches the ground.
“These are the stories we need to tell about Nigeria,” he stresses. “Ogun State alone draws millions of pilgrims monthly to places like Redemption City, Nasfat, and Bilikisu’s shrine. Cultural tourism is the largest potential employer of labor, yet we ignore the value chain because we do not document and market our own wealth.”
The Art Behind the Lens
Adedayo’s creative philosophy rejects the casual, impulse-driven nature of modern snapshot culture. Every assignment is approached with deliberate conceptual rigor, dictated by a personal diary system he has maintained meticulously since 1982.
“I will not just take a picture because it is a beautiful picture. No,” he explains firmly. “I must see a story through it first, which then dictates the exact equipment, camera, and lighting I choose to deploy.”
His portfolio tells the story of a nation in its multi-layered complexity—from high-profile presidential portraiture to the intricate watermarks embedded across millions of Nigerian passports.
His architectural philosophy is equally uncompromising, visible in the physical structure of the DAP Experience Center itself. Defying his architects and engineers, Adedayo insisted on installing 154 uniquely shaped windows across the building’s exterior.
“Nothing in life is straight,” he says of the design philosophy. “Life is uneven—half boy, half girl; some tall, some short. The 154 windows represent the 154 most interesting places in Nigeria that you must visit before you die. Similarly, the 98 steps at the entrance and exit represent the 98 places you must see before leaving Lagos. It is designed to spark a conversation and make us fall in love with our own land.”
Navigating the Changing Photography Landscape
The transition from analog film to digital processing, artificial intelligence, and instant social media uploads has fundamentally altered the economics of professional photography. While digital technology democratizes creation, Adedayo warns that it often strips away the depth, patience, and archival discipline required for true documentary work.
“Today, everybody with a mobile phone is a photographer, and media houses don’t even wait to send photojournalists because citizens capture things instantly,” he observes. “Everything is now real-time—fast, fast, fast. But speed shouldn’t replace substance.”
He notes with regret how historical archives are routinely lost in Nigeria due to a lack of institutional preservation. Citing the tragedy of Peter Obe—the legendary Daily Times photojournalist who covered the Nigerian Civil War with multiple cameras slung around his neck—Adedayo laments that priceless historical negatives often vanish or deteriorate after a master’s passing.
“Peter Obe died, and despite all efforts, where are his archives today? Gone,” Adedayo says. “If we do not create structures to archive our work, our children will simply throw our life’s labor into the trash.”
The Future of the Craft: The DAP Experience Center
To prevent his four million images from suffering a similar fate, Adedayo conceived the DAP Experience Center during a flight from Lagos to London in June 2003. Today, that vision stands fully realized as a multi-sensory, digital, and analog museum of photographic heritage.
The center features immersive 5D virtual rooms that take visitors on a simulated 25-minute journey from Marina into the Atlantic, through the Niger Delta creeks, past the Niger Bridge at Onitsha, up to the confluence at Lokoja, and back to Lagos, recomplete with simulated weather, turbulence, and light shifts.
Crucially, the center bridges the generational gap by preserving the magic of darkroom chemistry alongside modern digital exhibits. Visitors have their portraits taken using both digital and analog cameras, watching in real-time as black-and-white film negatives are developed, enlarged, and processed under red safelights.
“We are putting education back into our system,” Adedayo says. “Young people need to see where we started from, to understand the craft, patience, and science behind an image.”
Beyond education, the DAP Experience Center is built to empower emerging photographers by offering a commercial gallery platform to exhibit, archive, and monetize their work.
“Our photographers work day and night, but they die broke because there is no marketplace for legacy art,” Adedayo asserts. “With this center, we are building a platform where African photographers can sell their work to global collectors. The first one-billion-dollar image might just come out of this building. My goal is simple: to leave a structure where our visual history is preserved, our stories are honored, and the next generation knows exactly who they are.”
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Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers.
She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay.
She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos.
As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender.
She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies.
Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the
prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the ‘Aviation Writer of the Year’ Category.
She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category.
She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations.
Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
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