Abuja - Nigeria — The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador James Victor Gbeho on Monday, 13th September, 2010 commended Miss Joy Obasi, the 2009 ECOWAS Ambassador of Peace for her interest in sensitizing West African youths against involvement in the proliferation of Small Arms and light weapons in the region.

Receiving the beauty queen in his office, the President commended her passion for the development of the region and reassured her of the continued support of the Commission. While lamenting the use of the region as transit route for drugs occasioned by weak governance, he stressed the danger this posed to the youth and urged her to add the trafficking of drugs and children among the issues she will campaign against.

In her response, the beauty queen, a microbiology undergraduate of the of the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria recounted the activities she had undertaken since her coronation in November 2009, told the ECOWAS President that her interest was dictated by the need to contribute to the peaceful resolution of conflict as part of the control of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

She stressed the need for the Community to nip the small arms prevalence in West Africa in the bud so as to make the Community conducive for the needed development and used the opportunity to solicit for further support from the Commission for the 2010 pageant scheduled to hold in Freetown, Sierra Leone in November.

In attendance were the ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Gender, Dr. Adrienne Diop, Mrs. Maxine Menson, leader of the 702 productions, organizers of the pageant as well as Mr. Kennedy Barsisa, Programme Officer in- charge of youths and sports. Miss Obasi was in Abuja to grace the first Under 23 ECOWAS Games in Abuja which ended on Sunday.