By Victoria Ngozi Ikeano
It is not unlikely that Cross River State governor, Professor Ben Ayade considers his introduction of a beauty Pageant to the now ongoing yearly Calabar Carnival as one of his greatest achievements. And, other state-sponsored carnivals like the Abuja Carnival and so on should not contemplate following suite. Touted as an international event that attracts global audience with Multichoice dedicating a channel to it on its digital satellite television, the festival is basically aimed at showcasing the state’s rich cultural heritage and natural endowments, thus boosting its tourism sector.
Last year, there was a Miss Calabar Carnival and Governor Ayade this year decided to expand the pageant’s frontiers by having a Miss Africa,in which some 30 African countries participated. At the end of the beauty competition, the winner was showered with a cash gift of $25,000 and the latest SUV Escape vehicle.  The first runner-up was given $15,000 and the second runner-up $10,000. Altogether the government doled out a whopping $50,000 cash. At the current exchange rate, that is over N20 million. What is more, this is currently scarce foreign exchange that is now doled outside the country as the winners are all foreigners (Angola, South Africa and Cameroon).
And surely, all the other contestants would have received consolatory prizes in cash and kind. Overall, when you take into cognisance, flight tickets for the participating foreign beauty queens, accommodation, cash and gift prizes and other sundry expenses on them and preparations for this novel Miss Africa contest, close to N100 million may have been expended on it. The pertinent question is, will the Cross River State government recoup this huge amount expended on these foreigners and is it worth it?
According to reports, tickets to the event were fixed at N200,000 for a table of 10, N10,000 for VIP  and N2,000 for regular seats. Certainly, it is mainly senior government officials and wealthy businessmen that would have attended. We were told that some 365 million people watched it on television. Typically, many of the government officials in attendance would have come in with complimentary cards. Let us assume that the hall that hosted the event has a capacity for 1,000 people and assuming they each paid N5,000, so, the total from gate takings would have been some N5 million. This is a rather generous assumption because as is the case with anything government, there might have been some financial leakages. Still this is nowhere near the amount expended on the pageant.
Now, let us examine the purpose of this pageant and the value derivable from it. Its originator, Governor Ayade spoke elatedly about it thus, “The African beauty pageant is a journey to climate change which today is a big challenge globally. That is why Cross River State people knowing full well that we hold 58 per cent of the entire forest map of Nigeria and by extension Africa, made the choice of the theme which is ‘Green Economy: A tool for sustainable development’ for the world to know that Africa generates less emissions yet bears the brunt of industrialization”. He continued, “The pageant is a warm embrace to Africa and more importantly to create a platform to discuss fate of Africans. The Miss Africa beauty pageant is a platform for the expression of intellectualism, capacity, unity, strength, vitality and the energy Africa represents. The showpiece is to create an avenue to celebrate the great splendour and beauty that God has given to Africa in terms of beauty, resilience in character and natural resources”.
In describing the pageant as a “showpiece” Governor Ayade thereby considers it as a piece of entertainment, something on which to feed our eyes, something with which to relax nerves after a hard day’s job. Beauty competitions usually take place in the nights and run into the wee hours of the next day, accompanied with much razzmatazz –music, dance, comedy.
With regard to the beauty pageant as being an avenue to celebrate our God-given natural endowments as narrated by the governor above, I disagree. The best way to maintain all the beautiful things God in His bountifulness has bequeathed to us is for us all to adhere strictly to the order in the household of creation as guests on this earth. This requires that we understand what is expected of us and how to maintain this order in our world. And we can only understand this task and duty for a harmonious life here on earth in all its ramifications through enlightenment. It is not a job for a Miss Africa per se. Indeed, a Miss Africa or any beauty queen for that matter cannot accomplish it.
Therefore, appointing Miss Africa as ‘Climate Change Ambassador’ is an academic exercise. It is wishful thinking to believe that a beautiful face is enough to reverse mankind’s desecration of the environment. What it requires is mass education, enlightenment of the people which does not lie with a Miss Africa, Miss Calabar Carnival alone nor any one person, state, region, country or continent, as a matter of fact. Governor Ayade should cancel the beauty pageant forthwith and instead channel the large sums reserved for it, to mass education and true enlightenment
Yes, we all like beautiful things including a fine female face. But feminine charms should not be trivialised by literally putting them up for show in a China shop to be admired by the menfolk. We, women, should regain our trampled womanly dignity by earning respect rather than admiration from our male counterparts.
Ikeano writes from Lafia, Nasarawa State.

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