MBGN

Nigerians living in Ghana have joined in 2019 Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MBGN) pageant, as more young ladies register for the contest.

Alozie Uzoukwu, Head of Entertainment, Silverbird Group, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.

He said that a registration and screening centre had been opened in Accra to encourage beautiful and intelligent Nigerian young ladies resident in Ghana to apply.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2019 MBGN grand finale is billed for Sept. 20 in Yenogoa, with 36 finalists to be selected from screening centres across the country and the centre in Accra.

Uzoukwu said that screening had been scheduled to hold in the Accra centre on Aug. 21 in a Silverbird outlet.

“It is the first time we will be auditioning for diaspora contestants in Ghana, though we have held auditions in the UK in the past,” Uzoukwu told NAN.

Ozoukwu said that the number of contestants so far registered had yet to be ascertained.

“We can state that the turnout of girls each year, outnumbers previous records; hopefully, this year’s will not be different.

“It has even become a tradition that beautiful girls continue to show interest even till the day of the zonal and final auditions,” he said.

He said that more than 600 young ladies participated in the 2018 screening.

According to Uzoukwu, the 2019 screening will start in Yenagoa on Aug. 14 while the exercise will hold at the Port Harcourt centre on Aug. 15.

“In Owerri, it will hold on Aug. 16, and in Enugu, on Aug. 17, while Abuja centre will hold its screening on Aug. 24 at the Silverbird Entertainment Centre.

“The Lagos screening will take place on Aug. 30 at the Silverbird Galleria,” he said.

He told NAN that the MBGN pageant grand finale would hold on Sept. 20 at the Gabriel Okara Cultural Centre, Yenagoa.

He said the Bayelsa Government included the MBGN pageant in its annual calendar of events because of its potential to boost tourism in the state.

” The state government hosted the pageant in 2013, 2014 and 2018.

” If we have the Lagos State Government throwing its financial weight behind the pageant, we can hold it here since we have always had the pageant in Lagos.

” The contest, which started in 1986 in Lagos, was moved to Owerri for the first time in 2008 and subsequently to other states until date,” he noted.

NAN reports that the MBGN pageant is organised by the Silverbird Group annually.

The winner participates in the Miss World contest.

A Medical Laboratory Scientist, Anita Ukah from Imo, is the current MBGN title holder.

The MBGN pageant winner for 2001, Rivers-born Agbani Darego, a Computer Science and Mathematics graduate, was the first African to win the Miss World contest in 2001.