Carnival Calabar Queen Initiative Announced

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, April 09, (THEWILL) - Carnival Calabar Queen 2013/14, Miss Nancy Olive Aisagbhonhi will be presented to the public this Sunday, April 13, 2014, at the prestigious Ladi Kwali Conference Centre, Sheraton Hotels and Towers Abuja, according to a statement by the organisers of the initiative.

The Carnival Queen initiative, a brainchild of the Wife of the Cross River State Governor, Mrs Obioma Liyel-Imoke, was set up in 2007, in response to her concern for the alarming rate of abandoned babies in Cross River State.

The lucky winner doubles as the face of Mothers against Child Abandonment (MACA), another initiative of the Wife of the Governor, as well as the face of tourism for which Cross River State is known.

This landmark event, a first of its kind, will pull in stakeholders in the government and diplomatic circles as well as organizations who are concerned about the issues of gender and child welfare.

Expectations are rife that the seventh carnival queen Miss Aisagbhonhi, who contested as Mary Slessor, would rise to an enviable height of advocacy for abstinence among teenagers as well as create more awareness about the dire consequences of child abandonment, the statement said, adding that 'With her abilities in the creative arts and the advantage of youth, there is no gain saying that she would connect easily to the teenagers as a role model and help to enhance their morality at this time of their lives.

' Summing up her expectations, she opines 'I believe that after this event, the MACA message will be clearer; stakeholders will be more concerned about the issue of child abandonment and will put heads together to proffer solutions.

' Suffice it to say, all the proceeds from the Carnival Calabar Queen Pageant is a fund raiser for the MACA initiative.

Visitors to the event would also have the opportunity to learn more about the Destiny Child Project, another initiative of the Imoke's, which saw the massive exodus of street children from the streets of Calabar to a home provided by Government in 2009, and how to be part of it.