The Story: OCI Foundation in the “Kumashe Pageantry” and “Tiv Cultural Festival”, Gboko, Benue State (December 20 – 24, 2020).

From the 20th to the 24th of December, 2020, the OCI Foundation featured in the “Kumashe Pageantry” and “Tiv Cultural Festival”, which was held in Gboko, Benue State. It was the second pageantry event for the OCI Foundation within 2 weeks, the first being the 2020 FACE OF TIV INTERNATIONAL PAGEANTRY (December 15th to 17th, 2020). The “Tiv” is one of Nigeria’s approximately 300 ethnic groups, and the contest was designed to promote their culture.

The OCI Foundation participated as part of its Social and Public Welfare program, and used the opportunity to promote the “Arm Our Youths (ArOY) Health Campaign”, its flagship health initiative designed to empower Nigerians against breast and cervical cancers.

There were 8 female contestants, and 4 male contestants, with one winner emerging from each category. The female (Miss Susan Zapaseve NGUSHA) and male (Mr Simon Ordua TORBUA) winners were crowned the “KUMASHE U” and “TORKWAOR U” of the Tiv Cultural Festival 2020., respectively.

In addition to providing the official vehicle that transported the contestants at the Pageantry, the OCI Foundation awarded certificates to the top 3. The winners will work closely with the OCI Foundation in all its activities across the State (see video and picture below).

The pageants also have the options of becoming part of the ArOY Campaign messages that the OCI Foundation intend to pass across Benue State and Nigeria, as it seeks to flag off the Campaign across all senior secondary schools in Benue State. This is expected to commence in the second half of 2021.

The pageantry event was anchored for the OCI Foundation by Mr Luter Ikyobo, the OCI Foundation’s Social and Entertainment Liaison Officer, and we are proud of his excellent delivery.

The ArOY Campaign is a novel, Harvard-endorsed, WHO-supported, and evidence-based health promotion initiative of the OCI Foundation, which is being introduced across all senior secondary schools in Nigeria as a way of tackling breast and cervical cancers. In September 2019, it was rolled out across all the 261 senior secondary schools in Anambra State of Nigeria, and a similar event, scheduled for Benue State in May 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  All of Nigeria’s 36 states (and the FCT) are expected to benefit from the ArOY campaign on or before the end of 2025, and the ongoing consultations are part of this whole process.