By Frank Ulom
Power is transient, many said and Cross River has witnessed that since the swearing-in of Governor Bassey Otu on 29 May.
The Governor, CONVERSEER reports, has changed a lot of things; restoring the state’s cleanliness, decorations and roads (though not everywhere).
The latest is the famous Miss Africa Calabar pageantry and Northern Cross River Festival christened NorthFest, introduced by former Governor Ben Ayade.
Findings by our Reporter revealed that Miss Africa, started in 2016 is being replaced with “Queen Of Humanity Pageant.”
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The date for the pageantry is the same, 27 December 2023, the number of contestants, 20, is the same but the prize is different – $50,000 and an SUV for Miss Africa; $5 million and an SUV for Queen Of Humanity Pageant.
Also different from the pageantries is that the former draws contestants from 20 different African countries while the latter draws all contestants from Nigeria.
NorthFest on the other hand has been replaced with “Ogoja Carnival”.
The idea of the former still complements that of the latter; to give the people of Northern Cross River State their own carnival, aside from the New Yam Festival celebrated per Local Government Area.
The date for the Ogoja Carnival is 23 December 2023.
Cash and other prizes will also be presented at the event.