Miss Bayelsa State, Anna Ebierie
Banner, weekend, emerged the winner of
2013 Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant
with Imo State representative, Okwu
Stephanie as 1st runner up.
Banner, 18, also won the best traditional
costume award, beating other 31
contestants to clinch the crown at a
ceremony held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State
capital.
Meanwhile, Governor Seriake Dickson of
Bayelsa State has appointed Anna Banner
as his Special Assistant on Culture and
Tourism.
Anna Banner is meanwhile to represent
Nigeria at the Miss World pageant later this
year in Jakarta, Indonesia.
She has now taken over the reigns as the
Most Beautiful girl in Nigeria 2012 winner,
Isabele Ayuk.
The Minister of Culture, Tourism and
National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, at the
event, also announced the new queen as the
Ambassador of Culture and Tourism in
Nigeria.
Meanwhile, contestants who made it to the
Top 5 were Miss Imo, Miss Abuja, Miss
Kaduna and Miss Adamawa.
In his speech, Governor Dickson called on
investors to avail themselves of the
numerous tourism potentials and
investment opportunities in the state. “As a
state, we consider it a unique privilege to
have an array of important personalities and
elegant young ladies in our midst today, just
a couple of months after we hosted the
prestigious Africa Movie Academy Awards,
AMAA.
Mr Ben Bruce of the Silverbird Group and
MGBN 2013 winner Anna Banner
“For us, playing host to these historic events
within a space of just four months gives
credence to the fact that Bayelsa is fast
growing to become the next tourism hub of
the country. It also speaks volume of the
restoration of government unwavering
commitment to the promotion of gender
equality as illustrated in the national gender
policy of our great country.”
Chairman of Silverbird Group, organisers of
the pageant, Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce said the
essence of the competition was to bring
about unity among ladies with different
cultural and social backgrounds. According
to him “all 32 delegates worked tirelessly
with one common goal, although we can
only have one winner, I see everybody who
has come this far as an individual who
possess great value and have exhibited a
great level of competence.
“In over 25 years, we have produced
beautiful ambassadors who have
represented Nigeria at various international
events.”