Why I’m Organising Miss Nigeria   

In this interview, Chief Nike Oshinowo-Soleye tells NEHRU ODEH why she is resuscitating the Miss Nigeria beauty pageant and why the competition is different from others

•Nike Oshinowo-Soleye.

Why are you embarking on the Miss Nigeria project?
When I look at the world, and I look at our young girls growing into women, I realise that in this world that we are now, most girls want to be models or beauty queens as well as be doctors, engineers, lawyers, biochemists, whatever. They want to do both. They like glamour and the limelight, but they feel they should be able to have both. As a parent, one cannot say, Oh! my child mustn’t be an actress, my child mustn’t be a beauty queen.  You are wasting your time because that is what you read to them at bedtime; the story of Cinderella. You tell them tales by moonlight, of how the queen became this and that. They  want to live the fairy tale. So I am running a company that is responsible for actualising young girls’ dreams in a credible and safe manner. Instead of them running off to join some unknown pageants, let me, alongside their parents, sensibly guide them and say: Okay, if you are going to enter a pageant, let it be the premier pageant, the one that is endorsed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, the one that is credible.

You are a former MBGN, and the MBGN beauty pageant is currently doing very well. Now that you have resuscitated the Miss Nigeria competition, don’t you think that amounts to duplication?
I don’t see that as a problem. I am a former MBGN. I was very proud to wear the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria crown. When I was the MBGN, I was actually the national beauty queen because there wasn’t a Miss Nigeria that year. Everyone tries to imagine there should be some kind of problem between me and the Murray-Bruces. I love the Murray-Bruces, the Murray-Bruces love me. I am one of their success stories. They think it a huge honour that one of their queens is now running the premier pageant. You know what I am saying? It is like you as a teacher. One of your students has graduated to now run another school. I am a product of the Silverbird Productions Group. Now, if you look at America, they have Miss U.S.A, they have Miss America. So, in Nigeria, I don’t think having two good pageants is a problem. We have the Miss Nigeria, which is the national pageant. Miss Nigeria will not take part in any international pageant. She will not take part in Miss World, she will not take part in Miss Universe. She will not take part anywhere. She is a Nigerian ambassador. The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria is an international queen, she will go to Miss World, Miss Universe, whatever. That is what she was crowned to do. They are completely different worlds. My queen will be crowned to promote Nigerian values within Nigeria and the outside world. That is the difference. She is a national institution, she belongs to the people of Nigeria.

Are you saying that Miss Nigeria will not take part in international beauty pageants?
Absolutely not. It is not about pageant. There is no swimsuit element in the Miss Nigeria pageant. What we want is a girl that truly represents us here in Nigeria. They even look different. We are not looking for the same type of girls. For example, Miss Nigeria will probably be a bit more shapely. She will look like a typical Nigerian girl. We are also doing zoning. After the different zones, the girls will be put in a reality house in Abuja; because we want the whole nation to participate in choosing that one girl. So, while the 36 girls are in that reality house in Abuja, everybody at home can vote for them. So there will be a sense of participation from the whole nation.

What then is the difference between the Miss Nigeria competition and other beauty pageants?
I don’t really concern myself with other beauty pageants. There is a problem. When I  started this interview I said to you that most young girls have this dream, they want a crown or they want to be a model. I think a lot of charlatans out there have taken advantage of that and set up all sorts of things in the name of pageantry, which is really not that safe, which is almost in form of prostitution. Let’s call a spade a spade. You have me, a lady, running the national pageant and going on television and saying:  Parents out there, uncles, aunties, teachers, professors out there, if you have young girls that have a dream, let them buy a form for the national pageant, the credible one that you know. Don’t just leave them to go contest in some underground Miss whatever. Help them achieve their dreams in a credible, safe manner.

The prizes are so juicy. How are you going to sustain the pageant?
We have sponsors. And we are currently appealing to sponsors out there. We have companies that are already on board and who have partnered with us. We are very lucky and very grateful to them. Obviously, some of the money would go toward putting up the pageant. The rest of the money will go toward actualising the prizes and sustaining a good life for the queen.

In this interview you said that the Miss Nigeria will have some physical attributes…
Absolutely, which is probably the most important thing. What distinguishes us from other pageants is that our queen doesn’t have to be six-foot tall. We are looking for the Nigerian girl. I am not six-foot tall. I think I am five, five and three quarters, or something like that. A lot of young girls out there have the dream of being a beauty queen but imagine that they do not have the quality. I am saying, pick up that form, attach a picture of yourself, come to the screening. Let me tell you whether or not you are qualified. Because you will be surprised how many girls actually qualify. They imagine that if they are not six-zero they do not qualify. Six-zero is not Nigerian. I am looking for that Nigerian shape.

Can you speak more on the Nigerian shape you are looking for? Because many would want to know what exactly you are talking about.
I am not going to eliminate curvy girls. So, I am saying curvy girls are absolutely welcome.

How is the process of selecting the beauty queen going to be?
We have five zones in Nigeria–North-East, North-West, South-East, South-South and then we have Lagos. I have international zones–one in London and another in New York. From all these zones, 36 girls will emerge. And after the screening in the different zones, we would put them in a reality house in Abuja. They will be in that house for two weeks. While they are in that house, we will give them chores because we are not just looking for a queen, we are looking for a true Nigerian girl that we can crown, a girl deserving to be Miss Nigeria. While they are in that house, we would give them chores, they would go to market, cook, have a fashion show and visit different places. The whole nation will be able to see them, watch them and judge them. Nigerians will ask questions such as, can she cook, what do you think a Nigerian girl should be doing? Does she make her bed when she gets up in the morning? When visitors come how does she greet them? Does she hold out her hand or does she courtesy and greet them? The whole of Nigeria will watch this happening and decide.
After that, the ones that survive the voting system would end up on stage on September 25. We would now host the competition proper. There will be a traditional costume setting, there will be an evening wear session. There is no swimsuit session. We do not believe we need a swimwear segment to be able to judge that a girl is beautiful. We don’t need that either. We would engage them in conversation, ask them questions etc. And we can judge what they are like.