Queen Promise Nicholas Ekarika; the 6th CHARITY AMBASSADOR TOURISM QUEEN for the Miss Charity Ambassador 2020 Pageant has expressed her interest in advancing advocacy campaigns geared towards protecting and preserving the dignity of the Girl-Child through pro-activeness in initiating and partnering on a number of women’s and Girl-Child reproductive projects.
Queen Promise noted this while speaking exclusively with The World Satellite Magazine on the sidelines of the 2020 edition of the Miss Charity Ambassador pageant, which held over the weekend at the Sheraton Hotels, Abuja during when the focused, dynamic natural leader and excellent communicator laid emphasis on various focal areas, which include discriminations, exploitations, inequalities and violence in all forms.
Recognizing that the MCA crown is not just a pageantry title but a sign of great responsibility; the Akwa Ibom State-born beauty queen revealed: “I will carry the crown with utmost dignity and will use this platform to work towards widespread and availability of means, resources and opportunities in helping the GirlChild while not forgetting the BoyChild.”
Continuing, the very assiduous and result oriented Promise, who won The People’s Choice Award and a one year contract with the IBK Fashion Home at the Pageant asserted that she will initiate an organization through which she will, within the course of her reign and beyond create an enabling environment wherein the rights of women and other vulnerable groups are guaranteed.
“I will start up an organization through which I will be able to carry out several advocacy campaigns and outreach programmes to ameliorate the plight of women and the venerable, while developing consciousness of their dignity, especially the Girl-Child and BoyChild who are being raped or molested. I just want to uplift them because they are no different from others”, she explained.
Beyond this, Miss Nicholas is also upbeat about discovering and encouraging talented female youths in Nigeria and beyond to participate effectively in championing gender empowerment campaigns in Nigeria to underscore the disappointment of girls with the stewardship of our planet, the unabated violence directed against them and the slow pace of change in fulcrum issues like education.
Highlighting that the last 25 years “have shown what is needed to accelerate action for equality, the 22 year old ‘Lawyer in equity’ believes that as cause for hope, growing support in tackling gender-bias barriers, a ‘driving will’ for an equal world for everyone regardless of class or gender across generations and countries is pertinent.
“We don’t have an equal world at the moment and women and girls are angry and concerned about the future. They are radically impatient for change. It’s an impatience that runs deep, and it has been brewing for years”, the beauty queen noted.
Again, Queen Promise clearly expressed that The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which has been described as the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but girls calls for a world where every girl and woman can realize all her rights, such as to live free from violence, to attend and complete school, to choose when and whom she marries, and to earn equal pay for equal work.
The Queen further explained: “In nearly 25 years, we have seen more girls move from dreaming to achieving. More girls today are attending and completing school, fewer are getting married or becoming mothers while still children and more are gaining the skills they need to excel in the future world of work.
Additionally, she informed that girls are breaking boundaries and barriers posed by stereotypes and exclusion, including those directed at children with disabilities and those living in marginalized communities.
“As entrepreneurs, innovators and initiators of global movements, girls are creating a world that is relevant for them and future generations. There is need therefore to create an enabling environment and opportunities for the socio-economic empowerment of women”, Queen Nicholas added.
Another area of concern for Queen Promise Nicholas Ekarika is the fact that despite these inherent attributes, women empowerment is still a burning issue in the polity. According to her, this is in recognition of the vast number of women with little or no education and skills to enable them support their livelihoods or to become active in the mainstream economy of the country.
For her; “when you invest in a girl’s education, there are vast social and economic benefits. Girls who are educated are less likely to become victims of violence and they are also less likely to become child brides and child mothers. Educated girls contribute to their country’s economic growth. The impacts are multi-generational, too. Women typically reinvest 90% or more of their income into their families”.
No doubt, the progress since the Beijing Declaration is remarkable, but Promise still believes that girls around the world – especially those living in rural areas or humanitarian settings and those with disabilities – still need us to stand with them to achieve their full potential.
Thank you so much for this opportunity.