2000s - 'We are black, we are beautiful and we are in demand'

Agbani Darego

Nigeria's independence: Six images from six decades
BBC30 September 2020

On 16 November 2001, when a group of women competed for the judges' attention at the Miss World beauty pageant in South Africa only a handful of Nigerians were aware of the event.

But by the end of the day, millions in Africa's most populous country had become familiar with the name of 18-year-old Agbani Darego - the first black African to be crowned Miss World.

"Prior to Agbani winning it wasn't easy to get Nigerians and Africans to participate in pageants because they didn't see themselves winning.

"But from having 20 to 50 participants we had hundreds of thousands who wanted to participate. Now the world wants African music, they want African dance. We are black, we are beautiful and we are in demand," Ben Murray-Bruce, a former organiser of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria contest, told the BBC.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/nigerias-independence-six-images-six-230637044.html