Sixteen-year-old Dolapo Makunjuola was all smiles on Saturday as she was crowned the “Queen of the Virgins” at the 2017 Miss Virginity beauty pageant held in Lagos.

Miss Makunjuola, a student, emerged winner out of 35 contestants.

“I am very excited to be the winner of this event,” said Miss Makunjuola, who thanked the organisers and her “fellow virgins”.

“I intend being a virgin until I am ripe for marriage and I don’t want to dent my image and that of my parents.”

It was a drab event inside the headquarters of Surulere local government devoid of the glitz and glamour usually associated with beauty pageants.

Each of the contestants only answered questions mostly on current affairs fielded by a master of ceremony.

No prize was announced for the winner of the pageant.

Adunni Adediran, the organiser, said the contest was an avenue to propagate the importance of women keeping their virginity till their wedding night.

This year’s contest was a deviation from the past, beginning from 2007 when the pageant was founded.

A gynaecologist was always brought to confirm the virginity of prospective contestants beforehand.

Ms. Adediran said she was “called to order” by the Lagos State Ministry of Education, forcing her to stop the practice.

“We used to have a gynecologist who examines the girls before the event, but the ministry of education invited me and told me they disliked the attitude of a man looking at the girls privacy and I was depressed that day,” Ms. Adediran said.

“But was it not better for one man, a federal gynaecologist in a twinkle of an eye, to check if they were virgins or not, than the girls selling themselves from one bed to another bed? I have stopped examining the girls because they asked me to stop.”

On how the girls were verified and ascertained virgins, Ms. Adediran said she merely reached out to their mothers to talk to them before they participate in the pageant.

“What we now do is like a workshop, a seminar warning them, telling them how important it is to be a virgin before the night of their marriage, while the winner here will be decided based on the questions that will be asked them.”

One of the contestants, 40-year-old Veronica Nwokedi told PREMIUM TIMES she heard about the pageant for virgins last year through her “brother’s wife’s friend who is also a virgin.”

“On hearing about this event, I felt so excited because this has been my dream, to be among the virgins, because many people say that there are no virgins anymore,” she said.

“So seeing a lot of young girls here who are virgins really gives me joy. I was tested severally when I felt sick in Benin and even the doctors felt shocked on finding out that I was a virgin.”

Miss Nwokedi encouraged younger ladies to cherish their virginity because it brings forth God’s blessings.

“It is not really easy to be a virgin, but it is a good thing,” she said.

“Your husband will love and trust you so much without having any iota of doubt in his wife. Even when the lady is seen in the midst of men, the husband will feel relaxed and confident, knowing fully well that he was the one that deflowered his wife.”

The pageant was originally scheduled to hold on December, 16, 2016, but was postponed due to financial challenges, according to the organiser.

Ms. Adediran said she had sent text messages for financial assistance to 200 Nigerians asking for N2,000 each.

She also said out of the 50 churches she approached for assistance, only Anthony Okojie, the archbishop of the Catholic Church in Lagos, gave his support.

“Only 20 people responded out of the 200 people I appealed to,” she said.

“But God assisted me further and a Chief of Staff who I will not mention his name for now sent the sum of N50,000. A female lawyer also sent the sum of N10,000. The actual amount to appreciate virgins is, however, somehow countless.”