MEET MISS EKEMINI UMOREN, NIGERIA'S PRINCESS OF PEACE 2015

The interview was scheduled for 11am, she kept us waiting for 30 minutes... At exactly 11:30, she walked into our office accompanied by an aide. She apologised for coming late and shortly afterwards, we got down to business. Miss Umoren is beautiful, witty, full of life, and is an interviewer's delight any day!

Excerpts :

LET'S MEET YOU

I'm a young, female Nigerian named Ekemini Umoren, from Akwa Ibom state. 26 years old, medical doctor by profession, who has passion for beauty pageantry and takes delight in reaching out to people.

TELL US ABOUT TNP PAGEANT

Yeah, TNP... That's an acronym for The Nigerian Princess. I'll say it's different from other beauty pageants out there because it's more of brains than beauty. We did a lot of work in camp, like writing on benefits of tourism over oil, that was a three chapter project, and the best work was chosen. I think a book is going to be published on that.
It was cool meeting 25young women from all parts of the country. It was very competitive, but at the end,  it was worthwhile.

AND YOU WON?

Cash prize? I'm not sure I want to talk about that here, but I was crowned "Princess Of Peace". -  there were five crowns,  we had the Nigerian princess, Tourism princess, Universal princess, Princess of peace and global princess. Each of us will represent the country at various international pageants later in the year.

DEMANDS OF YOUR OFFICE

I think my own is very demanding because I was given the mandate of the peace advocate amongst the Queens
That means if there's a disagreement between any of the queens, it's in my place to settle them. And it doesn't end there. I will have to take it to the society. Because of this title, anything I will do as a pet project will have something to do with peace.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE WHILE IN OFFICE?

I hope to achieve so much. I will reach out to students in secondary schools,  you know at that tender age, it's what you tell them that they'll take in,  I'll speak to them on peace keeping, and also talk to them about health,  you know that my area of professional interest. We also hope to go to motherless babies homes, give out to them,  and make life better.

SPONSORSHIP?

For a while now,  my major sponsor has been my mum. But for the purpose of these pet projects and the international competition I will attend later in the year, I will love to solicit for sponsorship from corporate organizations and public spirited individuals. You can reach my manager on 0806-249-0910

MEDICINE AND PAGEANTRY?

I was looking forward to being asked that question. Medicine is about reaching out and helping sick persons become well, and pageantry also offers an opportunity to reach out to people and touch lives. To me,  both are intertwined. I really can't separate them.

YOU ALSO DID PAGEANTS AS A STUDENT, HOW DID YOU COPE?

2006 was when it all began. I was miss Basic medical sciences, and when my lecturers found out, they were on my neck, but I didn't give up.
I read like my life depended on it, and I prayed too. I made out time for my pageant stuffs,  and when pressure from school became too much, I would shut down everything else and face studies. I also tried to manage my time well.

THE FUTURE

I intend to start a foundation that will focus on breast cancer awareness.
This is how far I intend to go as far as pageantry is concerned. Because already I'm slated to represent Nigeria at an international Pageant later this year.