Why I left my lucrative oil and gas job for acting — Nollywood star

Nollywood actor and director, Daniel Etim Effiong, has revealed how he came to join the movie industry.

He said that he had to quit his job in the oil and gas sector in order to venture into the world of acting.

Effiong who revealed this in a chat with Ebuka Obi-Uchendu said he took such a step to find fulfillment.

“I studied chemical engineering because I was great at it, having done the sciences in secondary school and my teachers asked me to do it,” he said.

“I had members of my family who were in the oil and gas industry that blazed the trail for us. I decided to go into oil and gas and did just that. I was in oil and gas for two-three years. I wasn’t getting satisfaction and fulfillment.

“I was also doing art on the side, doing open mics and spoken word in the evenings. That gave me more fulfillment. I got great feedback and had a little chat with my folks and decided I was going to do it full-time.

He recalled how his folks thought he was crazy when he told them he wanted to switch from studying Chemical engineering to the arts in his third year at the university.

“Doing acting wasn’t about money. I tried and failed to make the switch before when I was at the university. I told my folks in my third year I wanted to leave chemical engineering and start over with theatre arts from scratch.

The actor added that his family had to call for meetings as a result of the decision he was trying to take and that distracted him but did not kill his dream.

“They thought I was crazy, called family meetings, distracted. That killed the dream. Then it came again two years into oil and gas. I didn’t tell anyone. I really thought about it and made the leap. I’ve been flying since.

“Acting was my first love. I did it at church, at school, and at every opportunity I had. But storytelling, directing, and producing came as a soft landing for me.”

Effiong has featured in a number of movies and at some point directed some.