Instagram story viewer> @itspuffy> Posts

Adedotun Soyebi

@itspuffy

5.6K

followers

2944

following

The Documentary Photographer

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Nigeria, in some portraits i captured over time. Ceremony, culture, celebration and everyday joy.

Happy 66th Independence Day 🇳🇬 taken in Nigeria by @itspuffy

109

2

5 days ago

The Edo I Knew!!!

John Odigie-Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOPSA) - Edo State Government civil service training center.

Before i got into the state, past civil servants barely got any training and the few that got which was once in a while was in a facility learning will only be undone! The Civil servants/service are the engine of any government and if the engine is terrible, no matter what reforms you are trying to have the government would move nowhere! This place was rebuilt to change how the state’s civil service actually works. Three storeys, training rooms fitted with proper ICT equipment, room for about a thousand people at a time. Library, sick bay, cafeteria, office spaces, everything a real training institution needs, not just a building with a name on it. A place meant to actually reskill and retool people working in government.
The academy carries the name of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Edo State’s first civilian governor, sworn in back in January 1992 when Edo was carved out of the old Bendel State (last monochrome image) He’s the founding father of Edo’s civil service in its modern form, a career civil servant himself who reached the top of the federal system. Naming the academy after him ties this new institution back to Edo’s very first chapter of self-governance. taken in Benin City,Edo State. by @itspuffy

96

11

22 days ago

131

1

22 days ago

The Edo I KNew!!!

Benin Central Park, Obakhavbaye.

Before this existed, Ring Road King’s Square, as everyone calls it… it was chaos. Buses parked wherever they could find space, spilling onto the road, passengers weaving through traffic to board. It wasn’t just disorganized; it was dangerous, and it fed something worse underneath. Drivers paying “dues” that never touched a government account, going straight into the pockets of whoever controlled the thugs in the state. No structure, no accountability, just people extracting money from other people trying to earn a living. The administration in power then decided to end that, not by chasing drivers away, but by building somewhere better for them to go and commuters can feel humane again Documented the site from the very start. Bare land, over two hectares of it, between Plymouth Road and Oba Market Road. Watched pillars go up bare against the sky, and was built in a short time and with urgency by my brother @cyrilokpeahior What stands there now: a terminal built for up to 500 buses a day, over 27 shops and outlets, waiting lounges that you can even play video games in , a driver’s lounge, restrooms, dignity built into the design, not an afterthought. Drivers with somewhere legitimate to park. Passengers who don’t have to turn gymnasts to catch a ride. A structure replacing what used to be somebody’s racket. Same stretch of Benin, same drivers, same passengers just no longer at the mercy of whoever showed up to collect that day and now a different structure. I wonder if it’s still like that today, haven t been in a while! taken in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, West Africa by @itspuffy

94

4

24 days ago

The Edo I Knew!!!

College of Education, Abudu, Orhionmwon LGA.

The first day I went to scout this place, I walked into a classroom and found a boy sitting alone, quietly reading. Broken ceiling above him, dirt floor, benches falling apart around him and there he was, book open, like none of it mattered. Straight up delusional. I crept closer to get the shot without him noticing, and he looked up right as I took it. Didn’t matter, the irony of what I was seeing, completely unscripted, was one for the books. I told him not to worry, that he’d soon be in a much better school, and hopefully a better situation in life, because people like that are born to win. I didn’t fully believe it myself that day. Walking through the rest of the campus i saw collapsed roofs, gutted classrooms, a compound reclaimed by grass and palm trees. It was hard to feel anything but frustration at how long a place meant to train human beings had been left like this. Then I sat in on a meeting about what was actually planned for the school, and for the first time in a while, felt something close to hope. What stands there now: rebuilt blocks, working classrooms, students back at their desks, learning. I don’t know what happened to that boy. But I hope wherever he is, he’s still reading, just somewhere better than that room, and still delusional! Because only the delusional ones win, and win BIG!!! taken in Edo State by @itspuffy

80

2

25 days ago

The Edo I Knew!!

Civil Service Secretariat, Benin City. Designed decades ago by the Samuel Ogbemudia administration, completed in 2008, meant to house government ministries. For years it sat abandoned dilapidated, falling apart, basically condemned. Renovation started in 2016. Followed the process… stripped back structures, scaffolding, the slow work of turning a condemned building into something usable again.
What stands now is a full secretariat complex landscaped grounds, functioning offices, a place people actually work in till late of night and can feel fully safe like our SUBEB Chairlady @teesalami in the cut. Same site, completely different reality. taken in Benin, Nigeria by @itspuffy

300

21

25 days ago

The Edo I Knew!

Let’s get Lit!

Before this, street lights across town had stopped functioning and hadn’t been turned on regularly for a while before this administration came in. Whole stretches of the city just would be dark at night, which caused insecurities across the state. Obviously someone had to do something about, it a lot was set in motion to use the energy from the sun to power light at night and also use some energy from the Osiomo power plant. Documented the night light got switched it back on. Watched the governor and the Enogie flip the button together, crowd pressing in with their phones out, and then the city just lit up all at once!!. Sapele Road, Airport Road, Akpakpava, the ring roads, Ugbowo, all the way out to the suburbs kilometres of road covered in one project. Im not sure how it is today but i hope that legacy still lives on! What struck me wasn’t just the light itself. It was what it meant for a city longer working hours, safer streets at night, a nightlife that could exist again after dark. taken in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, West Africa by @itspuffy

75

6

a month ago

The Edo I knew!!

Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium… this ground has history. Originally known as Ogbe Stadium, it was banned by the National League in 2009 for having an unsafe playing surface. For years it sat as a shadow of what it used to be. In 2018, a decision was made to rehabilitate sport life in Edo and wake the athletic indigenes from their slumber, reconstruction started. Documented that process too … the old seats coming out, the artificial turf being replaced with natural grass, new tartan tracks, drainage work to deal with flooding the stadium had dealt with for years.
What came out of it: a 12,000-seat covered arena, FIFA-approved natural turf, refitted tracks, an Olympic-size pool, squash and tennis courts, and an indoor suspended gymnasium, the first of its kind in Nigeria. It later got VAR technology installed, making it the only stadium in the country with it at the time.
Hosted the 2020 National Sports Festival not long after and the Nigerian super Eagles launched the turf when it was completed. Same stadium that was once banned for being unsafe. taken in Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium by @itspuffy

420

21

a month ago

The Edo I Knew!!

This school, Government Science and Technical College, formerly Benin Technical College was founded in 1970. For most of its four decades it was left to rot. Broken windows, no equipment, buildings falling apart, and the kids still showed up every day like nothing was wrong. Sitting in the room while the plans for rehabilitating it were being discussed, I knew I had to quickly document what was there before anything started. Then in 2017, ground was broken. I followed the planning, the groundbreaking, the actual construction workers, materials, the whole process. The part that stood out most: students worked alongside the builders as part of their own training, helping rebuild the very school they’d go on to learn in. Not sure how often that happens anywhere.

Same school, completely different reality now. by @itspuffy

237

11

a month ago

The Edo I Knew!

For a while now, I’ve watched the conversation about Edo State online the jokes, the frustration, sometimes people almost embarrassed to say they’re from there. I understand where it comes from. But it also made me stop and think about what I have sitting quietly in my archive.
For eight years, I had a camera and a front-row seat to a state trying to build itself… roads, schools, hospitals, institutions, and the quiet unglamorous work most people never see. Images that have never been published. Stories I’ve carried but never told. ’m not here to argue with anyone or politicize anything I’m a documentarian I show what I witnessed, and I let it speak.

So I’ll start from the beginning.
This is the first photograph I ever took of Governor Obaseki on his first day in office, in his chair, chin resting in his hand, somewhere deep in thought. I didn’t know yet what those eight years would hold. Looking back now, I think he was already carrying the weight of everything ahead of him.

Edo has a story worth remembering. I intend to tell it, one frame at a time. The good, the bad, the struggles , the wins, the losses… my observations!

More to come.

18th November 2016 taken in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, West Africa by @itspuffy

159

5

a month ago

September 2025. Touring the beautiful city of Algiers, the sun lay on everything beautiful I set my eyes on, and the shadows it cast were insane. So I started documenting everything I saw, unknown to me, the creation of my new book had already begun.

“Algeria, At A Glance” is my own view of Algiers, my way of preserving its history and legacy, frame by frame. These 10 shots are a small taste of what’s in the book!

#myleicaphoto taken in Algiers, Algeria by @itspuffy

161

17

a month ago

“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men”

This is the quiddity of who @ademolaniran is! You’ve worked so hard over the years quietly, diligently and very intentionally! I celebrate you bro and pray you attain very high heights, that you’ve not yet imagined! Thanks for the inspiration , the unfiltered relationship, the words of advice and an amazing visit! There’s a reason this post isn’t on my story but feed 💪🏾! Congrats bro! Iyanu a sele taken in Lagos, Nigeria by @itspuffy

177

1

2 months ago