I was a tomboy–Omasan Buwa, Ex-beauty queen

Posted by admin Headlines, On The Lighter Side Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

Twenty-two years after emerging as the 1989 Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Omasan Buwa is still amazingly beautiful. Her fantastic dress sense of the tall lady with an oblong face leaves you in no doubt that she knows her onions when it comes to fashion.

After sojourning abroad, she returned to the country with a burning passion to give hope to physically challenged youths of Delta State. In this interview with Sunday Sun, she talks about her role in the administration of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. Excerpts…

You have made quite a big leap from beauty and fashion issues to governance. What does your current engagement as the Special Assistant to the Delta State governor entail?
Basically, I’m here to set up social services. In Nigeria, when people hear about skill acquisition, they just think of a building with some sewing machines and all that.

No, I am not doing that. For instance, my designer in Asaba has two girls who are physically challenged. These girls are learning to receive customers, cutting and making patterns, sewing, and more importantly learning about the financial nitty-gritty such as book-keeping, profit and loss, etc. They are also learning how to put their products on the market. We have people who are shoemakers who are already established under what we call RISS, which is an acronym that stands for Rehabilitation and Interactive Skills Scout.

You see, when I was overseas, I was a social worker. I also did a stint in law, which I mainly use in matters of juvenile delinquency (that is young kids who have fallen off the rail a bit.) Thereafter, I went to the mentally retarded and the physically challenged. In doing that, I noticed that in Nigeria the main problem is teaching them how to fish. People don’t want to be bothered about improving the welfare of the physically challenged.

They call them different names, from handicapped to disabled. Nobody does that in my state anymore; we refer to them as physically challenged individuals. People now know that they are not disabled, rather they are physically challenged. They are people with disabilities (PWD). Every human being has challenges. It might not be physical. It’s about integrating them into the society. We are trying to show them that they can have pride.

We are saying them, yes, you might have a challenge, you might walk a bit slower than me but that doesn’t take away what you have up there in your head. One of my favorite pictures was with Stevie Wonder during the Miss World pageant, in Taiwan, in 1990 shows me dancing with him. He said to me, you are a Scorpio. I asked him, how do you know? He said, ‘I could just sense it from far away.’ For the visually impaired, they cannot see but all their senses are active. So, whatever you have, use it. We are trying to take them from that feeling of hopelessness to having a sense of accomplishment. It’s not easy but with a lot of prayer, a lot of repetition, they are beginning to get the message.

You just said that you worked as a social worker in the United States. Could you share your experience?
It raised my sense of compassion and it made me thankful. I have always been a ground floor person. It made me to realize more that am not better than the other person; that what I have become today was only possible by the favour of God and His blessings.

I actually was taking care of mentally challenged people in America. I learnt to appreciate human existence as a whole. Of course, I learnt work ethics having worked abroad most of my life; you learn responsibility. It’s a very satisfying thing to get a hug from one of your clients but the next minute, he might turn around and want to strangle you, (because they were mentally-challenged) but it’s very fulfilling when you notice progress.

From the way you are talking about the experience, it sounds like you loved what you were doing. So why did you decide to come back?
I give God the glory and also thank my principal, the governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, for the trust he reposed in me. I actually came back to engage in youth empowerment and run what Americans call a non-profit organization (we call it NGO here). The programme was intended to have the Big Brother setting. So I approached my state with that project because there was a teething problem with our physically challenged clients then.

They would come and protest, but my State is one State that has always attended to their needs; so they began taking this for granted. They would come and protest. But fateful day our youth empowerment program was going on and I heard them say that “even among the youths we have disabled people.” I quickly corrected that statement, saying they are physically challenged and that it is politically incorrect to call them disabled. I kept talking and was very passionate about it. I said that I had noticed that in Nigeria, people alienate them.

I told them that in my job abroad, I knew my clients by name. I could not tell you that Felicia has a club foot, what I see when I talk to Felicia is: what is your problem, why are you being violent, violence is not the solution. Anyway, my Governor is a fatherly figure, he wants you to work hard, he wants you to earn your living, yes, there might be some compassion on the side but he’s not going to give you money just for the sake of it. He said he is ready to assist our citizens but not just dishing out money. It was done that way in the past, and it didn’t work.

Rather, the people would just come back for more. What can we do? Basically, that was how I got into the government. I would like to call myself a technocrat. Though I have a political appointment but I like to say I’m a technocrat. If you noticed, the first thing I said to you was that I had made up my mind to come home. I came here to set up a social services and that is what my mission is about.

So you resigned your job in the United States?
I made up my mind to come home. I reminded the Lord God that He is the one that orders the path of a man. I told Him that I want to come home and asked Him to make it possible. Importantly too, I wanted to bring my children back to Nigeria. They are teenagers – two boys and a girl. I wanted my children to have that Nigerian cultural upbringing. I want them to go to secondary school here.

But Nigerian parents prefer their children to school abroad and you brought your own home…
I had my children abroad. Most parents that had their children abroad bring them home at a point. By next year they are going back. They are here for their GCE. I might even say they should go to Ghana. They have been abroad all their life, London and America. A lot of people want their children to come back home. My parents did that to me. I was born abroad but I had my secondary school education and all that here. That has helped me a lot, even while living abroad, it gives you an edge.

Now that you mention your parents, what was it like growing up?
I had my early years abroad. I came back when I was nine years old. When I was growing up, the now famous Allen Avenue was all bush! We lived in Ikeja GRA We used to walk through there. It was fun. Secondary school experience was a blast. I have a lot of friends and we still keep that relationship. That was the society then.

Everybody knew your peers; thank God we had parents that were in the middle class, and they took care of our needs. Unlike nowadays, you come across young people helping themselves to pay school fees and even taking care of their parents. We had a social life. We had the literary and debating society of which I was always the second speaker. Igbobi Grammar School always came first, Government College always came second.

If I see someone like Avoekpe who is the major speaker now, 30 years later, it’s like you, I remember that debate that day, that point you gave and all that. But children these days are busy trying to survive. When I was growing up, my mother worked at Nigerian Airways, she was the catering manager. Sometimes, when you misbehave, before she would get home our neighbour would have told her; not only that the same neighbour could even beat you before your mother got back home, and then she will tell her, see what your daughter did and I have taken care of it. Nowadays, adults are even afraid to speak up.

Was it after secondary school that you contested for the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria?
Yes, I was in the University of Maiduguri at the time. I had contested for Miss Nigeria and I was the finalist – that was when Stella Okoye won. In the hall that day there was a big uproar and they had to take her out with police escort. The audience felt she was very dark. For me, it was just fun because I was modeling before that. Then, going into competition was a hobby. Its just part of the swag and effizi as young people say today. I did all that to boost up my résumé in the entertainment world then. Actually what happened was I got suspended for contesting in Miss Nigeria.

I went to England for few months and when I came back, LINTAS advertised the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Pageant. I contested and won. Then, everybody tried to blame me for contesting in the Miss Nigeria pageant, because I got suspended. But look at today, 20 years after, young beautiful women from all over the world came to Abuja to contest and they were stoned. That was a big embarrassment. I went through it and nobody listened to me then.

It wasn’t that I was naked on stage. Then we had Maitasime now they call them Boko Haram. They dealt with me in school. When I went back to school after the contest, they had a toilet pipe cracked on my skull. We were the social ones in school then. Sometimes, when we wore trousers to the market they would run after us. Those things have been happening a long time. They just build up. Whereas it was those ones that covered themselves were the ones teaching us the bad things. You know they have money, they come from rich homes. Schooling in UNIMAID then was a good experience.

So what happened after the suspension?
I went to England and got a summer job, I just had fun. When I came back, they didn’t let me back into school. About that time I went for the MGBN contest and won. Three years wasted. They didn’t even call it expulsion; they just suspended me. After the contest, I was still into the modeling and also opened up Pepperholics – what people now call Point & Kill. We had an aquarium; we bought our fish fresh from the river. I have a few of my client in fisheries. We had a life band and it was right behind Fela’s house. It was a happening spot then. Then was the era of yuppies and yummies. When I got married, I sold the business and went to the United States with my husband.

What would you say were the main gains you got from being MGBN queen?
The reign made me more popular. I featured in the cast for Ripples. I also presented Morning Ride with Danladi Bako. I was a compere. In fact, we started a lot of this stuff people are doing now. We started the first Nigeria movie in the home videos. By the time the reign came along I already had my fingers in a lot of pies. Talking about gains, there were no gains per se.

We got a car to use but returned it. I was doing all these things but I didn’t have money to buy a car. I didn’t have a rich boyfriend; I didn’t have a sugar daddy because I have always been a tomboy. I go to the club, and I was just dancing with my friends, Fred Amata and the rest. That also was the era of glamour boys and glamour girls. Also, Guv’nor Ken Olumehese treated us very nice then, we always went to Nightshift to hang out.

But the perception is that beauty queens make so much money from men who always want to be identified with them….
Maybe I would have made money during my reign if my head had come down. Me? I was just still myself. Like people say that beauty queens sleep with their organizers, Ben Murray-Bruce could not stand me. Though after, we worked together as comperes now they call them moderators. During my reign as Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, they would tell me to go somewhere, maybe a press appointment and after make sure you go to Sheraton for lunch.

Then, Sheraton was new but me, I wanted to go to a Buka to eat. That was just me. I didn’t make a lot of money but it made me famous and popular. The exposure with regards to going to Miss World, Miss Universe, was beneficial because I got to meet a lot of people. When I went abroad, I first worked as an aesthetic artist –make up artist. I have made up Naomi Campbell, Mary J Blige. Today I meet people from different countries, then I‘ll say do you know Laura Croft from New Zealand, and they’ll say yes that was Miss New Zealand years back and I’ll say tell her you saw Omar because they called me Omar, who represented Nigeria. I still have the pamphlets, the brochures of the Miss World pageant and anytime I look at them, they just bring back the memory.

Apparently, it’s a door opener. People I hadn’t seen for years, they still recognize me. I went to Mama Cass on Allen Avenue and one man wanted to jump the queue. I said excuse me, he looked at me and said ‘I know you, you are Omasan Buwa. He was telling the younger people there, she was the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, blah, blah la and they were looking at me.

Does your daughter want to be like you?
Actually, it’s my boys that want to go into the arts. One said he wants to be a model; they are both taller than me. Even my daughter is my height. One said he wants to be an actor like Denzel Washington and the other says he wants to do sports, American football and also model. My daughter argues with me a lot, maybe she’ll probably end up a lawyer like me but she is very fashionable. My mum calls her Agbani. She doesn’t want to do anything but just to look pretty, and I’ll tell her it’s a lie, you must come to the kitchen.

That means she took after you – in sense of style?
Yes; but I am not the lazy type. Me? I’m domestically primed, I’m a tomboy but a proud tomboy.
Now that you are based in Delta, how do you cope – in terms of the social scene, having lived abroad for long?
First and foremost, I am a Deltan, a true waffie babe. Yes, I grew up in Lagos, I lived abroad, I love traveling, and I love experiencing new things. Asaba is more like country side. It’s coming up but Warri is like Lagos, they have a good social life, they have good night life, they might not have the big massive mall. But it’s a metropolitan society. Asaba is a new state capital that is coming up. We just celebrated our 20th Anniversary and it is developing fast. But most of the time you are caught up with work and official activities. There is no time to be bored or lonely.

As a working mother abroad, how did you cope?
I had more friends when I was in England. My childhood friends were in England. I worked in the law court as a lawyer, I have an LLB. I use my law towards humanitarian work. Friends helped to baby sit for me; besides such friends would also need you to do the same for them some time. It’s not always that you can afford to hire a babysitter. America is less of a social society, baby sitters are more expensive, but when you are doing interviews, you tell your employer that please, I have three kids, can I have a schedule? They will listen to you.

Tell us about your husband.
I’m not married. I got divorced a long time ago. But we talk sometimes.

Is he the father of the three children?
Yes of course.

You bear his name?
No, I have always been Omasan Buwa, even when I was married to him.

Why?
Because it’s a lot easier. Even if I bore that name, nobody will call me that. That is not what makes marriage better whether you bear his name or not. Remember, Omasan Buwa and I say this with all humility, is a brand. A lot of people say it like one name – like Omasanbuwa.

How do you cope with being a single parent?
It’s a challenge. I thank God that I am friends with my children; we go to movies and when we were abroad we went to amusement parks. Together, they are my husband now. Luckily, one big amusement park is coming to Delta State, courtesy of RMD (Richard Mofe Damijo. He brought some investors to come in., its going to be a big water park with all the rides. I’m looking forward to taking them there. Its tough being a single parent – I am talking about the financing – that is obvious but raising them and trying to make sure they have the morals so that one day, they can raise a family too; so that one day they can get married and be in tune with their spouses’ needs.

All through the time my children were young, I could not date because I didn’t want to have somebody coming in and me telling them, this is your new daddy. They are not used to that lifestyle. But it’s not an issue, they have their phones, they talk to their dad, they go to their dad’s family members – aunties, uncles. It’s not a relationship that the children will not see their father’s family. After all, they don’t bear my last name.

-Sunwp_posts

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Posted by admin on Oct 2 2011. Filed under Headlines, On The Lighter Side. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry