Veteran Nigerian actress, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, has advised celebrities and women generally to desist from skin bleaching in a bid to present themselves beautiful.

Ajai-Lycett gave the advice during the maiden edition of the Creative Designers Guild of Nigeria (CDGN) culture and entertainment exhibition, held at Citiheight Luxury Hotel, on Friday in Lagos.

The programme had the theme, “Expanding Cultural Creativity Through Entrepreneurship”.

“It is disheartening to observe that celebrities and women who should be role models to the youths spend hugely to bleach their skin because they do not see the beauty in being Africans,” she said.

She, however, urged celebrities to take pride in being Africans as there were lots of businesses that could be generated when African beauty is explored creatively.

She noted that filmmakers should also desist from the habit of always looking out for light skinned ladies to feature in their movies.

According to her, there is an industry and creativity the nation is killing ignorantly as Nigerians look up to the western world to develop virtually everything for the nation, pretending to be sophisticated.

“As celebrities and women, we need to respect, love and be proud of who we are, starting from the externals. A lot of us don’t want to be dark, we don’t like the colour of our skin, that is what I call low self esteem.

“Our responsibility as women is to represent our race, we are raising children and when they see that we are not happy with our skin and hair, then, you have those children believe that to bleach their skin and wear wigs will beautify them more.

“And what breaks my heart most is that celebrities are found in that habit of promoting skin bleaching, wearing wigs and they go as far as selling it to the public, this is bad and I advise that they desist from that bad habit.

“If we accept to maintain our natural skin and hair, we will be creative with them to improve our economy as a nation because there is huge business in it for us but we are unconscious of it.

“We do not need to imitate the western world, I advise that we remain black, bold and beautiful,” she said.

Ms Ajai-Lycett said individuals must be cautious of the health implications of skin bleaching as it affects the liver and could lead to skin or liver cancer.

Earlier, Joy Akinyemi, said that the exhibition would be an annual event to ensure that the youth are conversant with aspects of the creative industry that could be explored for wealth creation.

She appreciated the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and the Lagos state Film and Videos Censors Board for their cooperation in hosting the programme.

Veteran Nollywood actor, Dr Tommy Akposheri, encouraged the youths to explore their inherent artistic talent as a weapon for economic growth for themselves and the nation.

He advised actors generally to explore more themes relating to love as opposed to rituals.

He said they should focus more on telling of African history in movies to educate children and keep them abreast of the dictates of African culture and history.

Iyen Agbonifo-Obaseki, a movie production designer, urged Nigerians to take pride in patronising local prints and cuisines which could boost the nation’s economy.

Also, Sewedo Nupowaku, a communications consultant, urged the youth to explore the latest technology to promote the nation’s cultural heritage.

The highlight of the event was an exhibition of cultural attires cutting across different ethnic groups, beads, different forms of makeup, and African hair styles among others.

(NAN)