Nothing quite prepared me for the destabilizing, yet exhilarating sensation I experienced just by gazing at the towering Dune7 fondly known as ‘Big Daddy’ located in the Namib Desert, considered the oldest desert in the world at 55 million years old. This surreal place boasts of some of the tallest and biggest sand dunes in the world, created by the winds. Dune7 stands at 1256 feet, roughly the height of the Empire State Building.
This is a desert explorer’s paradise. For me and also for my darling sister Ambassador Lilian Onoh, the freedom of riding through nature’s great wilderness by Quad bike, by Camel, on foot , and simply experiencing the vastness of Africa’s desert landscapes was incredible! Thanks to our helpful and informative guide, kelvin at Dune 7 Adventures, the memory will remain indelible.
Bianca is a Nigerian politician, diplomat and lawyer, businesswoman and multiple pageant titleholder. The winner of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 1988 Pageant, She was also Miss Africa and is best known as the first African to win Miss Intercontinental. Formerly a Senior Special Assistant to Nigeria’s President handling the Diaspora Affairs portfolio and the country’s ambassador to Ghana she became Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Kingdom Of Spain in 2012. She is now Nigeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Her sister Lilian Onoh, also an ambassador is currently Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Namibia.
In December 1988, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu was crowned Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria at the National Theatre Igamnu, Lagos. Prior to her emergence as the National beauty Queen, she had won the Miss Martini contest whilst at college in Cambridge. Bianca went on to win more beauty contests, notably Miss Africa, hosted in Banjul, Gambia, few weeks after the MBGN pageant and the prestigious Miss Intercontinental Pageant hosted in Lagos in 1989.
She was also Nigeria’s representative at the Miss World pageant held in Hong Kong in 1989 as well as the Miss Universe, Pageant held in Cancun, Mexico. She was named Miss Congeniality at the now defunct Miss Charm International in Russia where she was a semi-finalist. In 1989, it was revealed that Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu was dating former Biafran president and Ikemba of Nnewi Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, a political associate of her father who was over thirty years older than her.
Their controversial romance was a national talking point in the early 1990s, Bianca declared later in the year that the pressure of being in the public eye had become unbearable, causing her to resign as Miss Intercontinental and stated that her main concern was completing her education as a law student. Having obtained her law degree, she married the former Biafran president in a lavish wedding ceremony at Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja.
In 2012, following the death of her husband, his will, which left most of his assets to her, generated a great deal of controversy and disaffection among several family members. Bianca appealed to her critics to allow Ikemba Odumegwu-Ojukwu to “rest in peace”, describing him as a man of honour and integrity whose legacy should not be obscured by rancor over inheritance issues and stating that the will was drafted in 2005, registered and placed in the custody of the State Probate Registry with the legal witnesses and executors who were present at the time it was prepared, still living.