Kaduna’s Peace Pageant

Having gone through considerable trauma
occasioned by the bloody ethno-religious
crises over the years, a group is using a
beauty pageant to promote peace and
harmony in Kaduna State, John Shiklam writes
For years, the city of Kaduna was embroiled in
crises. From one ethno-religious crisis to the
other, which makes people wonder if the
residents had any time for recreation.
However, things are changing for good in
recent times. The first ever Unity and Peace
Beauty Pageant in Kaduna has created a lot of
positive impact among the Christian and
Muslim youths from the various states of the
federation resident in Kaduna.
Organising beauty pageants is certainly not
very common in Kaduna, but this one put
together by a modelling and fashion design
agency, Mulikat Bound Lydia (MBL) founded
by two young ladies, Miss Mulikat Suleiman
28, from Edo State and Lydia Jeremiah 22,
from Benue State, was unique in many
respects as it elicited so much interest among
residents of the northern city.
A total of 14 girls from across the states of the
federation resident in Kaduna aged between 20
and 21 participated in the event in which 20
year-old Bimbo Ishola from Kwara State was
declared winner by the judges as the new
“Miss Peace Kaduna State.” Ironically, it was
learnt that Bimbo’s mother had vehemently
objected to her daughter’s participation in the
competition, because of the perceptions that
such contests promote waywardness.
However, the father was said to have stood
behind his daughter who is said to be
passionate about becoming a model.
According to the organisers, who are also
involved in the training and skill development
of the youths, the event was their contribution
to the promotion of peace in Kaduna State as
well as encouraging understanding and
interaction among Muslim and Christian
youths.
Explaining the rationale behind the event, one
of the organisers, Mulikat Suleiman said: “we
believe that whatever is your vocation or
profession, you can use it to promote peace
and understanding in your community. When
there is peace and stability, we can meet our
dreams and aspirations and we felt that this
pageant is one of the avenues that we can
bring the youths together.
“A lot of them are aspiring to be models and
fashion designers and we have been training
quite a number of them in our agency.
“We have been organising fashion shows to
promote creativity among the youths, Miss
Peace Kaduna State is the first pageant ever
organised in Kaduna.”
Mulikat and Lydia started their career as
models and fashion designers at a modelling
agency in Kaduna while undergoing studies for
a Diploma in Fashion Design and Clothing
Technology at the Kaduna Polytechnic. Both
ladies noted that many boys and girls want to
be models and fashion designers in the state,
but because the trade had not developed like
in places like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt,
many people do not know the opportunities in
the industry.
Mulikat further explained further that after
working as a model in an agency in Kaduna for
about five years, she, along with Lydia, who
was her colleague at the agency decided to
leave to set up their own modelling agency -
Mulikat Bound Lydia (MBL).
According to them, the idea behind MBL
modelling agency was to give a new meaning
and direction as against certain unethical
practices by some agencies, which had given
a negative stigma to the profession.
“We are trying our best to make sure that
companies in Kaduna don’t have to go to
Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt to get models to
advertise their products and fashion lines.
“One of the reasons for starting our agency
was because some of the unethical things that
some people are doing in the industry is giving
it a bad image.
“We are really happy doing what we are doing.
We feel privileged to be in a position to help
young people like us to develop their
potentials. It has not been easy when you look
at the fact that we don’t have the resources,
but we are doing our best to develop young
people who want to go into modelling.
“We have a lot of young boys and girls coming
to say they want to be models and asking to
know what it takes to be a model. We train
them on how to talk, how to walk, how to
dress. We teach them all types of modelling,
commercial modelling, advertisement
modelling. You can use your nails, eyes, hair,
teeth or any unique part of your body for
commercial or advertising modelling. We teach
them to exercise and keep fit. We give them
health tips so that they can be healthy. We
teach them self-esteem which is very
important. We teach them fashion design and
so on.
“We have also been trying to change the
perception of people about models. In those
days, modelling was for only slim ladies, but
today, everything depends on what you want
in terms of advertising your product. Fat
people can model for certain types of wears. If
you are tall or short, there can still be
something unique about you that can be
acceptable in a modelling agency and that is
what we have been telling people.
“Our dream is to contribute to the development
of the youths and compete with international
modelling agencies in Nigeria and change this
wrong and negative perception about
modelling,” Mulikat said.
Also speaking, Lydia, co-founder of MBL
dismissed insinuations in some quarters that
models are wayward girls, maintaining that
morality was an individual thing and has
nothing to do with members of a particular
trade or profession. She that noted for
instance, in the world of which modelling
belongs, there are stories that some girls had
to sleep with film directors before they are
given roles, stressing that the fact that some
actresses do that does not mean every lady in
the industry does same.
“Things like this may happen but that does
not mean everybody behaves like that. We are
all different individuals and it is an individual
thing. There is no profession where you will
not find some of its members indulging in
sexual immorality. There are a lot of girls that
are not into modelling but they are wayward,
so it is a very wrong perception,” she declared.
She disclosed that the agency has trained
more than 30 boys and girls in modelling and
fashion design, adding that the girls that
participated in the Miss Peace Kaduna State
were registered freely for training to encourage
them realise their dreams as models.
“Our kind of modelling is very unique and it is
not offensive to culture or religion. Our clothing
is decent and is mainly local fabric. We invited
parents to come and see things for themselves
and they saw that what we were doing is really
different.  People think beauty contest is about
going about naked or half naked. No, not all!
We are really trying to change the perception
of people about modelling. For the fact that we
are operating in Kaduna, we know the
environment, the culture and the sensibilities
of the people.
“Many of the youths who attended the
programme were so excited that apart from
the fact that the occasion provided an avenue
for them to interact, it also opened their eyes
to the opportunities in the modelling industry,”
she added.
Some of the parents who witnessed the event
described it as a welcome development as
such programmes keep the youths away from
thinking about evil and criminal things.
According to them, the brief lecture given by
the organisers on modelling and fashion
design was quite educating, stressing that it
had educated them on what modelling is all
about and has revealed that there are job
opportunities in modelling.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas said the event was a
welcome development, stressing that such
events should be held from time to time to
break certain barriers as well as encourage
young people to aspire to be models and
fashion designers.
“More of such events should be held to
promote peace and understanding among the
youths. As you can see many young people,
both boys and girls and even parents came to
grace this occasion.
“Many of these young people want to be
models. My daughter had always dreamt to be
a model, she is very passionate about it and
we are encouraging her, but unfortunately
Kaduna does not seem to be like Lagos or
Abuja where people can develop as models,”
Mr. Thomas said.