A boyfriend? Not my priority now

Winner of NTA organized Queen Nigeria contest, Abia State chapter, Miss Geraldine Obi, expresses optimism to emerge Queen Nigeria at the grand finale in October to be a role model others could emulate. The 22-year old National Youth Service Corps member tells chinyere amaechi-musa more about her dreams, hopes and aspirations. Enjoy!

I am Geraldine Obi. I am a Youth Corps member. I am currently serving at the Nigerian Institute of Agricultural Research, Ibadan, Oyo State. I studied Agricultural Engineering at Enugu State College of Science and Technology.

The crown I’m wearing is an indication that I am a queen. I am Miss Abia in the Queen Nigeria pageantry organized by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), in collaboration with Silver Stone. It is actually a state by state contest with a grand finale after each state has produced its own queen. The Abia contest took place on February 15^th, 2009 and I clinched the crown.

I won because I met most, if not all the requirements, for that crown. I have all it takes. It was a case of the best emerging the winner. I have the potentials, that’s what I mean.

Truth is that beauty in the real sense of it is total, in the side that it includes physical, intellectual and innate beauty. It involves creativity, elegance, poise and others. In addition to all that I have mentioned, I stood out from the rest. For being the winner, I will be representing my state at the grand finale, which comes up in October, this year. I am optimistic though by the grace of God, I will still win that final contest.

It is quite challenging. It is not a show of a crowned beautiful face you have to work. You have to be adventurous and visionary. You have to leave a legacy behind by the time your reign expires. There should be a positive thing for which you have to be remembered.

You have to go an extra mile to conceive a project through which you could touch the lives of others, especially the less privileged members of the society. For such a project, you have to look for sponsors and facilitators, which means that you must be up and doing.

In this process, you are of course projecting yourself and more people get to meet and know you. I am really facing that challenge right now.

I am right now working towards a malaria awareness and eradication programme. I had to choose a health programme because I have come to realize that malaria fever is the worse ailment among my people. It is very common, I do think that a majority of the people do not know how to check it.

I want to bring health experts to come and enlighten them on how to check malaria attacks. I am also talking with donor agencies to donate anti-malaria drugs as well as mosquito treated nets all of which should be administered free of charge to my people.

I also visit charity homes and assist them with what I can afford.

These are basically some of the things I want to accomplish as Queen Abia. I also want to talk to my fellow youths, especially the girls to live a responsible life. I want them to know that there no benefit in prostitution or criminal activities of any kind because at the long run, you are worse off for it.

They should set a standard for themselves. They should be visionary and hard working.

After my reign, I still hope in God for what next He has for me. However, I will go back to modeling and acting. I have been doing that before I won the crown for Abia. I have featured in some home video films like’ The Lion’s Den, it’s a good attribute as a model.

In the past, many believed that models were lay-about and irresponsible but that is not true of today’s models. Truth is that some of them are victims of circumstances, who come from impoverished homes and who have taken to modeling as a way to support their family upkeep.

We are very responsible. This again depends on different individuals and how they package themselves for the art. The way you present yourself is of course going to be how people will see and relate to you.

To my fellow youths out there, please be focused and have a clear knowledge of what you want from life and work towards it. I’m saying this because as a young girl growing up, I faced a lot of challenges.

Even at that age I told myself I was going to be somebody of note in future. There will surely be obstacles but with determination you will get to your destination. Today though I cannot yet count myself as anybody, I think I am still on course. They should see challenges as stepping stones and one day they will achieve their dream.

I have no boyfriend, though that is not a priority now. When I was about going into the university, it was indeed tough for my parents. I had to do all kinds of oddities, buying and selling menial things to assist my parents to send me to school. Some day, I will be a role model and affect others positively and touch humanity.