By Abel Kolawole

The Most Beautiful Girl in the Niger Delta, popularly known as Face of Niger Delta, Miss Gwendolyn Okutele, says she will use her time and resources as the Queen and Ambassador of the Niger Delta  to work for the collective interest of the region and promote values that could encourage the education of the girl-child.

Okutele, who spoke to journalists before the commencement of the final match between Warri Wolf and Delta Eagles at the Otu-Jeremi Stadium in Udu local government area of Delta State, explained that her passion for the girl-child education is like an unquenchable fire burning  through in her mind.

She maintained  that she will work for the upliftment of the girl- child education as a value that the Niger Delta people will not only key into but will also cherish.
Speaking on her reign, the Niger Delta beauty queen asserted that it has been a wonderful mix of joyful experience and pressure associated with a rising star in dire need of success.

She posited that due to the unexpected nature of her victory, it was  natural to fidget due to stage panic and other forms of discomfort associated with being having to face people, to interact with the high and the mighty in the society.

The Urhobo born beauty queen of the Adagbrasa-Amukpe extraction in Sapele local government area of Delta State, however, remarked that so far it has been a sweat and very wonderful feeling. “l like it, l enjoy it, and it has exposed me to another experience of life,” she said, adding that she will work very hard to implement all the agenda she set for herself  within the period of her reign.

Okutele, who flagged off her campaign as the Face of the Niger Delta last November with a visit to Madam Buwa Memorial Orphanage Home in Sapele where she doled out several items including bags of rice, loafs of bread, tubers of yam, vegetable oil, palm oil, clothes, shoes, tissue papers, detergents and cartons of  noddles, also visited other public institutions like the prisons, the Sapele Remand Home, hospitals and schools in continuation of her charity work.

According to her, she would  do more this year by sinking a bore hole in her community in Amukpe where she said the people still drink water from an unhygienic well, as well as print  exercise books for distributions to schools around  the Niger Delta.

She said it is her dream to set a standard for the girls in her community, noting that if she had not gone to school, she would not have been exposed to the idea of competing in a beauty pageant not to talk of becoming  the Face of the Niger Delta.

The Niger Delta Peace Ambassador commended Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan  for setting up the “Education Marshall” to pick up children hawking during school hours and send them to school, insisting that the governor has, through the initiative, etched his name in gold.”

The beauty queen congratulated the Deputy Governor of Delta State, Prof. Amos Utuama, on the success of the Utuama Peace Cup Competition.
“l am an ambassador of peace and when l sees and event that could promote peace, I identify with it. l wish the Deputy Governor Prof. Amos Utuama, good luck in future competitions,” she said.

When asked what was next in her agenda after the Face of the Niger Delta, Okutele said she would compete for the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MBGN)  pageant this year.
She stated that if she wins, she would move ahead and contest for Miss World. She also said that she will take up an acting role in the Nollywood.
On her role model, she named Regina Askia, Agbani Darego and Elizabeth Taylor.

The Niger Delta beauty queen said, it is also her dream to meet the Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, Austin Okocha, Kanu Nwakwo, Mikel Obi and Perpetual Nkwocha, because of her passion for the round leather game.

On her dress sense, she said she loves, it simple and smart. The 400 level business administration student of the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, says before the end of her tenure, it is her dream to touch the whole Niger Delta State with her charity work.

Meanwhile, the first citizen of Okpe kingdom, HRM, Maj. Gen. Felix Mujakperuo (CFR), the Orodje of Okpe  has described the beauty queen as a rising star who will go places. The monarch was elated that an Okpe girl emerged the winner in the keenly contested Face of Niger Delta beauty peagent and promised to support her in any capacity.

She also paid a courtesy visit to the Ovie of Oghara kingdom, HRM Oreki III, who prayed for her and promised to assist her in the course of actualizing her dreams.