Ba’royin Dayo Rufai, is a roving journalist with over a decade experience in celebrity reporting. He is the Founder of Ogun state leading celebrity magazine, Ijebu News Xtra and the CEO, Pigeon Communications. In this interview, he talks about the much celebrated Miss Awelewa beauty pageant which is being organised by his magazine in conjunction with Citi Hotel & Suites Ijebu Ode. Excerpts:
What informed the packaging of the Miss Awelewa beauty pageant?
Like you and I know, we have a distinct culture and tradition in Ijebuland. Over the years, Ijebu people are known to be the most enterprising of their sort in Nigeria. And for your information, hardly will you see any sector in our economy where Ijebu people are not outstanding more than their peers. Apart from this, if you are conversant with the Holy Book of Bible, you would have read about the root of Queen of Shebbah. Till tomorrow, we still have the shrine of that unique woman of style at Oke Eri in Ijebu. In a nutshell, when you couple all these outstanding qualities and rich cultural values of the Ijebus together, you will come to understand the basis of the Miss Awelewa contest. But what we have done in this case is to simply expand the scope of the contest beyond Ijebuland, so that we can collectively celebrate our ageless beauty queen in our campuses across the states. You can therefore simply put that Miss Awelewa beauty contest is to uphold our cultural values by staging a competition to show the talent in our gals.
How would this contest be different from other ones that have been staged in Ijebu?
Thanks. Though, every contest has its limitation. But we have done in this case like I said earlier was to expand invitation beyond our Ijebu soil. Previously, most of the contests are primarily done to make ends meet by the organisers. Ours is outstanding in a way that we are using our platform to discover the talents in these gals for the betterment of their tomorrow. It may interest you to know that we have lined up several activities to enlighten our youths the more against social vices which could lead them astray.
It is not only about contest alone, we are inviting reputable organisations and professionals to where they would be camped to lecture them on these vices. The 15 contestants that we have invited to the camp will also avail themselves with the opportunities some of the tourist attractions in Ijebu and possibly outside the senatorial districts. And we are quite sure we will achieve a better result at the end of the day.
What are the activities lined up for the Grand Finale?
You would have read in several newspapers and magazines that Ogun first lady, Mrs Funso Amosun whose empowerment initiative has benefited thousands of people across the local governments is one of our major partners, so also are Mr Segun Oyebolu, the Founder of the Feed The Elderly Foundation, International Breweries, Nestle Nigeria PLC, Consolidated Breweries PLC, Pumavin Herbal Bitter Gin, Citi Hotel & Suites, Bolu Owotomo Initiatives and Wesco Pools and Lottery. We will be putting all these resources together in making the day a grand one.
To be specific on your question, there would be performances from different talented young artistes, display of various artefacts, brief lectures and showcase of Ijebu rich attires and a lot more. Let me quickly add that one of Nigeria leading entertainment companies, Goldmyne Entertainment, owned by Otunba Sesan Rufai, will also be there to handle the red carpet event.
You have not said anything about the prizes?
Smiles…Yes. We have several prizes for different categories of our winners. Don’t forget the fact that we are only doing this in appreciation of our modest ladies and not an avenue to rake in money. Notwithstanding, the winner will be awarded with an all-expense paid trip to United Kingdom, and 21 Inches LCD courtesy Fly4cheaper Nigeria Ltd, one of our major sponsors, a modelling contract for the first runner up and a fridge, while the second runner up will go home with a brand new Tablet.
Apart from these gifts, we also have other consolations prizes for some of the contestants. Once again, I want to seize this opportunity to appreciate many of the media houses that have been helpful in the build-up to this pageant show.