The Organizers and Team of Most Beautiful Deaf Girl In Nigeria (MBDGN) one of Africas most populous beauty pageant paid a courtesy visit to the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Abuja office on Wednesday, July 20th, 2022.
The Coordinator of MBDGN, Mrs. Janet Fasakin who led the group in her speech told the Executive Director, Mr. David O. Anyaele that MBDGN was conceived 8 years ago in the mind of Dr. Tolu Oko-Igiare, the provost of Institute of Counselling in Nigeria. She got it registered with CAC along with some Deaf Personalities in the spirit of Nothing About Us Without Us and so far has seen the establishment grow like a giant oak tree.
In her words, she said, “After the period of gestation common to all great and transformative ideas, the vision is set to bear fruit through the effort of Queen Janet Fasakin and other strong Deaf Activists who ensure the vision continues to move on for the benefits of Deaf Women and Girls”.
Speaking on the importance of this initiative, she mentioned that it brings Deaf women and girls to the limelight, promotes their rights using fashion, beauty, and glamour, and it is an avenue to promote Disability Rights and advocacy in the following areas; Deaf culture, Equal access to education, Access to healthcare services, Political Inclusion, and Economic Inclusion.
Mrs. Fasakin while giving a brief history of MBDGN said the 1st Maiden edition was held in Lagos where Queen Maria Okese emerged the winner. She is now playing a host of this 2nd edition in September 2022.
She expressed their profound gratitude to the Executive Director for the great work CCD is doing in the community, especially in the area of Disability Inclusion, political participation of PWDs, and support for the disabled community.
She also said that the Team seeks collaboration and partnership to participate in the World Deaf Pageant (Miss and Mr. Deaf World & Miss and Mr. Deaf International) which has been going on around the world for twenty-two years but Nigeria has never participated but this year’s edition scheduled for October in Tanzania will be different as the MBDGN Team is ready and optimistic about representing Nigeria and flying high the Nigerian flag at the world stage.
Responding to all that has been said, Mr. Humphrey Ukeaja who spoke on behalf of Mr. David Anyaele, applauded the initiative MBDGN and its mission statement, stating that CCD is at the forefront of promoting inclusion. Describing the Deaf community as a nonphysical disability community, he mentions some activities CCD is carrying out to further support the Deaf which includes training sign language interpreters to be well equipped with the ethics of sign language interpreting to satisfy the communication needs of the Deaf community.
He further extended his hand as a show of welcome and willingness to collaborate with and support the MBDGN project. In his words, “I welcome you once again on behalf of the Executive Director Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, we promise to provide you with the much-needed support and collaborate with you to achieve this great event.”