When Queen Esther Ene Daniels was announced as Miss Idoma Ambassador, in Otukpo, Benue state in December 2019, not many believed she could go beyond the normal routine of beauty queens, especially, coming from a state that is artificially disadvantaged in areas of investing in cultures, entertainments and youth developments.
As oil and gas diminish, digital economy is taking over while data is becoming the new oil. But in all these, just a few persons and organizations have discovered pageantry as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, in terms of entertainment, culture and tourism.
The traditional orientation of pageantry, as one of the cardinals for beauty and talent hunts in showbiz industry, as it relates to Benue state, was to crown a beauty queen out of many contestants; perhaps, brand a car for her; she moves with her organizers on courtesy visits to prominent men (politicians) both within and outside the state; and make gains for the pageant and the crew.
And this continues till the next year when the organization would crown a new queen and the routine starts with her. Even when pet projects are fictitiously launched and funds raised towards achieving it, reports have shown that such projects only exist on papers and the eventuality would be for personal aggrandizement, with no recourse for personal development.
But Free Image Entertainment, an organization that produced Queen Daniels, changed the narratives, dazzled the traducers and decided to set records by using the office of Miss Idoma Ambassador to champion the emancipation of the girl child in Nigeria; raising the bar of campaign against rape and other social vices; investing in their education as well as empowering them technically and financially, to be self reliant in the male dominated and COVID-19 ravaged world.
At the wee of the global lockdown in 2020, Queen Daniels, a native of Otukpo, Benue state, came up with the initiative of distributing customized face shields to organizations and individual girl child, both in Benue state and Federal Capital Territory with other palliatives, to help cushion the effects of the hardship brought about by the total lockdown, as well as curtailing the spread of COVID-19 amongst her people. That was the first time a beauty queen or any celebrity of sort would be taking such patriotic and lifesaving steps in the COVID-19 era, in 2020.
Shortly after that, the beauty thespian, who is also a high priced actress in Idoma Nollywood, launched an aggressive social media campaign against rape, at a time the menace was becoming not only a national disaster but another pandemic. With the campaign mantra, ‘Give Her Pen, Not Penis’, the screen goddess created much awareness on the media space in May and June 2020, thereby enlightening the ever growing population of female folks on how to avoid the predatory waves of rapists.
Moved by the wave of rape in Benue state, the office of Miss Idoma Ambassador, in conjunction with other organisations and notable civil society groups, on the June 15, 2020, organized a one-day awareness rally where over 10,000 youth, mostly young girls and women, were mobilised in a peaceful protest to the palace of Idoma Paramount Ruler, the Och’Idoma IV, HRH, Agabaidu (Dr.) Elias Ikoyi Obekpa and other authorities in Otukpo. This was when a total of eight girls were reportedly raped across Idoma land in a space of one week. Ever since that great move by the queen and with the attendant libations to the ancestral spirits of Idomaland and terrible curse placed on would-be rapists, the cases of rape have been drastically reduced, with zero reports.
To achieve her quest for a crime free Idoma society and in continuation of her ‘Give Her Pen, Not Penis’ crusade, Queen Daniels visited virtually all the leaders from Benue state, challenging them to invest in the education and development of the Idoma girl child.
This yielded tremendous result, and with a financial support from Ojechema & Mercy Foundation and other great leaders from Benue, also with the technical support from National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), Zaria and Ada Mark Foundation for Girls, 100 young girls were empowered within one week in Benue, through the office of Miss Idoma Ambassador.
From September 7-12, 2020, the 100 young girls drawn from the nine local government areas of Benue South, were camped in Ogbadibo local government area and trained on various skills. With the support from Ojechena & Mercy Foundation, Queen Daniels also presented a takeoff capital to each of the 100 participants, to equip them for their trades.
Most of the trainees are now well established and happily doing well in their respective trades. It has also drastically reduced the dependency ratio which has been a bane for vulnerability of the girl child to the male folks, as well as making them financially viable.
While commending the great initiative of Queen Daniels, Minister of Women Affairs, Chief (Mrs.) Dame Pauline Talen, pledged collaborations of her ministry in the activities of the Benue born beauty queen.
Born to the family of Pastor and Pastor Mrs. Daniels Ejeh of Asa, Otukpo, Benue state about 25 years ago, Miss Esther Ene Daniels, the first child in a family of five, is an undergraduate of Business Administration and Management.
Itodo writes from Makurdi, Benue state
