Motto Beauties for a Cause Type Beauty Pageant Location Nigeria | Formation 2002 Headquarters Nigeria Membership Miss Earth | |
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Miss Earth Nigeria is an annual national beauty pageant in Nigeria to select its representative to the international Miss Earth pageant. The pageant, with the theme "Beauties for a Cause" is organized by AMC Productions, and began sending representatives to Miss Earth a year after the international pageant was established in 2001.
Contents
The current titleholder is Geology student and current Miss Nigera Chioma Obiadi.
History
Originally, titleholders were winners and contestants of rival pageants Miss Commonwealth Nigeria (Vanessa Ibene Ekeke) and Miss Nigeria (Ewemade Ogbebor), until Miss Earth Nigeria became a pageant in its own right in 2004. The winner is expected to work in collaboration with environmentalist and state parastatals on how to make water safe, check erosion, pollution among others. The pageant also conducts road shows to educate people on the three R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).
Nigeria produced its first Miss Earth semifinalist when Stacey Gavey entered in the top 16 in 2007, as did Uko Ezinne the following year.
The president and national director of the pageant is Ibinabo Fiberesima, a pageant veteran who is now a Nollywood actress.
Titleholders
Below are the Nigerian representatives to the Miss Earth pageant according to the year in which they participated. The special awards received and their final placements in the aforementioned global beauty competition are also displayed.
Controversy
In 2009, Law student Nkesi Okandu was dethroned by pageant organisers after she refused to compete in Miss Globe International as opposed to Miss Earth. Fiberesima later claimed that she had received threatening phone calls from Okandu's family who argued that her substitution was unfair. The newly crowned queen was labelled "rude" by the organisers, and was forced to resign after just two weeks, allowing second-place winner Biochemistry student Modesta Alozie to compete at Miss Earth instead, and reign as Miss Earth Nigeria for the remaining eleven months. It has since been argued that this was a plan to eliminate the winner, noting that while Okandu had signed her contract on September 25 (the same day she was asked to compete in for Miss Globe International), Alozie was already being credited as the winner of Miss Earth Nigeria on the Miss Earth website as early as September 22.
Munachi Uzoma, who won the pageant in 2011, accused the organisers of breach of contract following their failure to give her the N1000,000 cash prize and brand new car, and disclosed that some of her predecessors also suffered similar treatment.