Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria

Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria – often abbreviated as MBGN – is a pageant organised by Silverbird Group with the main purpose of sending representatives to international competitions. Originally known as Miss Universe Nigeria, it was renamed Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria after news publishers Daily Times lost its license to send delegates from rival contest Miss Nigeria to Miss World and Miss Universe.

As no pageant was held in 2016, the current title-holder is still Psychology student Unoaku Anyadike who represented Anambra in 2015, and her platform is Endometriosis.

Former publisher Ben Murray-Bruce ventured into show business after his magazine Silverbird flopped. He took a loan of N200,000 from his father which he used to organise a number of successful concerts which saw artists like Shalamar and Kool and the Gang perform in Nigeria, after which he promoted a new pageant known as Miss Universe Nigeria in 1983, but it only gained public attention after it changed its name to Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in 1986, and its first winner was model Lynda Chuba.

MBGN winners are expected to represent Nigeria at Miss World (although Lynda Chuba, Rihole Gbinigie, Chika Chikezie, Angela Ukpoma, and Isabella Ayuk did not have this opportunity), and until 2004 at other international pageants including Miss Universe, where Chuba was the first Nigerian in twenty-three years to compete after Edna Park's on-stage hysteria in 1964, while the first MBGN winner at Miss World was English language student Omasan Buwa in 1987. As with most pageants second-place winners are expected to replace the title-holder if they are unable to complete their reign; this has only happened twice – Biology student Regina Askia replaced Bianca Onoh after the latter resigned in 1989, while Philosophy student Ann Suinner continued Agbani Darego's win after she was crowned as Miss World in 2001.