The overall winner of the 2018 ‘Face of Nigeria Beauty Contest,’ Miss Joy Nguma, is out to save lives.
Joy, who was crowned the best among four others, in a highly contested pageant that saw over 20 contestants drawn from across the states, which was organised by Angelz Eyes Communication, sees her crown as a call to duty and not for show.
The well-determined beauty queen, shortly after winning the crown, established a foundation – Joy Nguma Foundation.
The foundation is a platform built to enhance community health care by providing free medical services and potable water supply to rural communities, quality education to children and young people who are less than 18, and empowerment for women.
Other things include, giving hope to prisoners and rehabilitating drug addicts as well as rape victims and sex workers with skill acquisition programmes to better their lives.
Recently, the beauty queen inaugurated the foundation in Yaba, Lagos to kick-start some programmes. According to her, the foundation is a not-for-profit organisation committed to improving the quality of life for disadvantaged Nigerians by supporting primarily every person going through crisis, mentally, materially and physically.
She also launched a campaign against trafficking of young women and girls. The foundation’s long-term mission is to create a Nigeria where all people have access to affordable quality health care education and equal opportunity to realise their potential.
“It is a usual occurrence as most beauty queens see beyond their physical attraction that earned them the crown to innate understanding of humanity. A reigning queen’s office has also gone beyond business and advert endorsement to reach out – programmes to better the life of the less privileged in our midst. Often said, most beauty queens are not really born with silver spoon, and had yearned after crown to give back to the society,” says Queen Nguma.
She added: “so far, the drive has been overwhelming. The reception I got when I visited some communities in Lagos, especially Makoko in Yaba, is encouraging. The children ran to me after the show, saying they want to go with me and I was touched, and vowed to do more for them”.
Face of Nigeria Chief Executive Officer Ozoya Salami said: “I think it is a start of a good journey. The foundation has properly launched and even if it is not yet active, she is very prepared for the project. She’s been a kind hearted person that will be more committed to giving back to society. For the funding, many donors have shown interest and my organisation will work with the donors to actualise her dreams.’’