Champion.

In 2001, it was no secret knowledge that Agbani Darego was crowned as the 50^th Miss World, an award for a young woman publicly acknowledged to have the perfect blend of beauty and brains. Little known fact was that when she won that award, she was a student of the University of Port Harcourt. A less known fact is that I was in that institution at that point in time. An even lesser known fact is that I was personally acknowledged by the reigning Miss World at that time, Miss Darego. After she had won the award, she promised to visit UNIPORT being her alma mater, so to speak, and the whole school, plus some people from town turned up to see her. We waited for over 5 hours. She didn’t show, neither was there any concrete word about her arrival or not. One of my friends, impatient with waiting asked me to walk him to the school gate from where he would get a vehicle to go home. It was a long walk from the Arena to the main gate, so after seeing him off, I started my walk back. I had walked more than halfway when I heard a lot of vehicles coming behind me. I looked back, and saw a convoy of vehicles, vehicles of class, definitely carrying someone important. I knew she had finally arrived. Then I saw her, standing out of the roof of one of the limousines, and she looked beautiful. I stopped walking to watch the convoy go by, and when the vehicle carrying her was driving by, she looked directly at me, smiled and waved. I was the only one along the entire road, so I was sure it was me she was referring to with that gesture. Now, stopping the convoy, coming down from the vehicle, planting a peck on my face, and taking a picture with me would have left me with a permanent blush, but the smile and wave were just perfect – it was, and is my only private moment with a world renowned celebrity.

Watching her as she reached the Arena and it filled to overflowing with people, I couldn’t help but wonder about success and achievement. The whole school and its complete hierarchy, and later that evening, the whole town along with its leadership would acknowledge her, not just because she had won the title, or because she had schooled in UNIPORT, or because she was a celebrity, but more because she was one of them, and she had brought them happiness and pride by being successful, and being globally acknowledged for it.

I would love to be in that position. I will be in that position. I am going to attain something profitable for myself and as many people as it would affect, and I am going to be publicly and globally recognized for it. When Agbani was in UNIPORT, no one acknowledged her. There are a lot of beautiful, model-types in the school, so except for the cursory observation, no one paid her any special attention. Even when she won Miss Nigeria to qualify for the bigger tournament, most people didn’t even know. But when she attained, the whole world took notice. That’s where I am referring to. That’s where I will be.

It will take hard work. It will take perseverance. It would take depending on God to direct me, and not lean on my own wisdom, but it can, and it will be done. This should be everyone’s desire, not necessarily for the public fanfare, but for the widespread impact. Everyone should be challenged to affect positively as many people as possible, and if you are publicly acknowledged in the process, to do so with grace. I was challenged by her that day, and I am constantly challenged by people not too far from me. I will work to prove myself. I will prove myself to be a champion.