In measured steps, they walked on the raised end of the hall, smiling and waving to the excited crowd. Their choreographed movement attracted a thunderous applause from the cheering observers. In a similar manner, they returned to the room from where they emerged. Then, the event kicked off.
This was the atmosphere at the 750-capacity lecture theatre, where a beauty pageant organised by the Faculty of Education of the Delta State University (DELSU) in Abraka was held.
The pageant was preceded by inter-departmental football contest, where the Department of Science Education defeated Department of Nursery and Primary Education in a 3-2 win.
During the lecture held to mark the event, Dr Samuel Campbell, an officer at the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), urged students to reject the temptation to use hard drugs, warning that abuse of drugs could cause lifetime damage to the body.
A debate was also held, where students of all the departments spoke on the topic: Why is your department the best in the faculty? The debaters reeled out points to outshine one another in convincing the listeners on why their department is special in the faculty.
Franklin Izose, a 100-Level student of Vocational Education (Home Economics unit), said: “The best department is Home Economics, because its students feed their colleagues from other departments. Stomachs can never get satiated of food; food is essential for the sustenance of life. Without food, no students will be in school to study.”
Dismissing Franklin’s position, Benjamin Onaho, a 100-Level Science Education student, said science made it possible for Home Economists to know the proper ingredients for food. Without scientific research, he said, many human activities would not have been possible.
Prof C.N. Okeoji, Staff Adviser to the Nigerian Universities Education Students Association (NUESA), declared the beauty pageant open. She praised the association’s leaders for improving the social life in the faculty.
Intelligence, cultural knowledge and sense of fashion of the contestants were tested during the preliminary stage. Some of them could not stand the test, dropping out of the contest. In the final stage, the contestants appeared in flowing designer gowns. Their intellect was put to test; each was required to answer intelligent questions.
In the end, Benita Ifeghoe, a 100-Level Computer Science Education student, beat nine other contestants to emerge the Queen of NUESA. Esther Kissa, a 100-Level Nursery and Primary Education emerged the first runner up.
Crowning the new queen, the outgoing queen, Miss Stella Aiwerioghene, a 400-Level Chemistry Education student, hailed the contestants for their courage, saying in every competition, there could always be only one winner. “But all of you are winners because of your time and energy you sacrificed to make the event worthwhile,” she said.
Benita, who got excited by the feat, said her joy knew no bounds when she was announced the winner, noting that she had always wanted to be a beauty queen.
President of NUESA, Julius Asuai, a 400-Level Economics Education, said: “This event began like an unachievable dream and vision; today, it is a reality because of the cooperation of executive members and students. I am grateful to God and all of you.”
Highlight of the event included award of certificate to members of the NUASA executive.
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