The 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.

Chuba was the first Nigerian representative in twenty-three years of to compete after Edna Park in 1964,[6] while the first MBGN winner at Miss World was English Language student Omasan Buwa in 1987.

[citation needed] Due to the country's conservative standards, very few contestants competed in the early days of MBGN, and competitors from Northern Nigeria are still rare as its predominantly Muslim population frown on beauty pageants.

Many MBGN winners have pursued careers in entertainment, including Sabina Umeh,[29] Regina Askia,[30] Emma Komlosy, Celia Bissong,[31] and Munachi Nwankwo.

[32] Lynda Chuba-Ikpeazu and Omasan Buwa have moved into politics,[33] as has Bianca Onoh who became a presidential adviser, as well as an ambassador and Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the UNWTO while Nike Oshinowo has worked in pageantry.

[49] In 1989, several months after winning Miss Intercontinental, Bianca Onoh resigned after tabloids exposed her secret relationship with former Biafran leader and Ikemba of Nnewi, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, a political associate of her father over thirty years her senior, sparking outrageous rumors – Climax magazine falsely claimed Onoh was pregnant.

[51] Actress Ibinabo Fiberesima has said in numerous interviews that she had competed in 1998 and emerged second runner-up,[52][53] but this statement is questionable as the person who had actually placed third was International Relations student Sylvia Edem, who would later win Miss Nigeria in 2002.

Sylvia Nduka, who most believed was an undeserving winner,[55] was asked by a reporter why she had failed to promptly respond to a question during the interview stage, and she replied that she was unprepared, as MBGN was her first pageant.

[56] However, YouTube videos later revealed that Accountancy student Nduka had contested in Miss Nigeria 2010 where she received coaching in etiquette and media and participated in the competition's reality show, but failed to make the final ten at the grand finale in Abuja – reports claim that an enraged Nduka, who had represented Kaduna, refused to return to the stage during eventual winner Damilola Agbajor's coronation and even smashed her 'Miss Kaduna' plaque.

"[55] 2012 winner Isabella Ayuk claimed to be twenty-six when she competed, until reports suggested that she had forged her age, thus giving the impression that she was younger than her actual years (she was said to be thirty).

Despite a public outcry, pageant director Guy Murray-Bruce stated that Ayuk would not be dethroned and will continue to serve as the reigning queen.