Press Releases

Fashola Advises Beauty Contest Organisers To Be Sensitive To Cultural Values

Jul 16, 2010 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Friday advised organizers of beauty pageants in Nigeria to always be sensitive to cultural and traditional values while making use of contemporary ideas in such competitions.

Governor Fashola who spoke at the Lagos House, Marina when he received the organizers of the Miss Nigeria Beauty Pageant on a courtesy visit added that intellect, grace and poise should be the basis for determining African beauty pageant winners. Such attributes, he noted,should be promoted and developed.

Governor Fashola while commending the decision of the organizers to exclude the wearing of swimsuits from the forthcoming competition, explained that: "Severally, we have adopted unAfrican parameters for expressing the beauty of African women and therefore a departure from that is something that we welcome".

He noted that the more African women begin to think and look like European women, the less attractive they are likely to become, adding that more of local prints and fabrics should be the defining characters of assessing the dress sense of Nigerians.

Said he: "At a time when women issues are in the front burner and where we have not achieved sufficient involvement of women across the board in the development process, a pageant which teaches women leadership rather than followership is welcomed".

He expressed the support of the Government for the programme, adding that it would always support every venture that develops and promotes people especially young women as they represent the underlying ethos of the administration.

"The development of people is our greatest assets and we see every investment in them as the strongest we can make. People are the most enduring infrastructure we can make investment in", the Governor added.

Speaking earlier, the Creative Director of the Miss Nigeria Pageant, Mrs Adenike Oshinowo- Soleye said the new Miss Nigeria beauty contest will reflect poise and beauty of the African Lady.

She added that the goal is to bring about a family friendly pageant which is one of the reasons why contestants would not adorn swimsuits during the contest.

Among those who were present at the event were the Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-Governmental Relations, Senator Tokunboh Afikuyomi, Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructural Development, Prince Segun Oniru, the Co-ordinator of the Miss Nigeria Beauty Pageant, Chief Pius Akinyelure and the General Manager of Azzagai, Mr Yinka Daramola.