Posted by Nonye Iwuagwu on
Adaeze Igwe is the current Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria. Apart from having a fine face, the 18-year-old is also blessed with a good figure.
Adaeze Igwe is the current Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria. Apart from having a fine face, the 18-year-old is also blessed with a good figure. But critics believe she is not smart, judging by the way she answered the IQ question at the contest. She, however, disagrees in this interview with ‘NONYE IWUAGWU and insists that nothing could have stopped her from winning the crown.
Why did you choose to go to school when many people believe that most indigenes of Anambra State prefer trading?
It happens everywhere. Some people choose to go to school while some don't have the opportunity to do so. Yet, others just don't want to go to school. I guess I chose the path of going to school. I believe that everybody loves money
What made you decide to enter for a beauty contest?
It wasn't really about being a fine girl. It's something I've been planning to do all my life and my mum was in support of it. She was always calling me her model, Tyra Banks and all that. So I grew up with it and I was particularly preparing for the MBGN.
Why MGBN?
I wanted to go in for the MBGN last year but they said I was yet to reach the minimum age. So, I had to wait till this year. I became 18 this year.
I think it has been in me. I used to love watching the runaway on TV. If you had asked me to choose between schooling and modelling then, I would have chosen modelling. Before now, I had never done anything on the runway. But I did a couple of adverts. I was in Abuja and called my sister in Lagos, because she had been following it (MGBN) up for me. I asked if they had started selling the forms and she said yes. So, I sent the money to Lagos and she got the form for me. I filled it in Abuja and came back to Lagos to submit it.
So, you followed the competition?
Yes. I had been following it. I knew all the queens and I watched the pageant every year. In fact, I was ready for it two years before it came. So, once I was of age, I was very ready for it. I prayed about it and went in that direction. Everybody was in support, including my church.
It seems you didn't have any doubt that you would win?
I didn't have any doubt. I saw girls that were looking very nice, but I didn't think about them. I remained focused and very confident that I would wear the crown. I was not intimidated. I was the youngest in the house but I wasn't intimidated.
Even at that, I have not actually achieved my main desire. I still have this MBGN Year to finish and then the Miss World crown. After my reign, I want to go into modelling and I don't think I have done half of what I want to do in life. This is just the beginning.
But during the IQ questions stage, a lot of people thought you would lose out because of the way you answered the questions…
I wasn't nervous. At that point, I hadn't lost any hope of winning. The question was, ‘What would you tell somebody about your state, Anambra?' For me, the only thing that came to my mind was that we had had three governors in a year, which is something different. So, I don't think anything was wrong with the answers I gave. But maybe the crowd didn't understand it quite clearly. The first one was, ‘Say something unique about your state,' and I said the people of my state were very strong people. The compere asked the same kind of question but in a different way, so I didn't want to repeat the same answer. And I had already said something nice about my people. So, I had to say something different. And I don't think the five girls were perfect too. So, I believe that nobody was better trained in answering questions. There were little, little mistakes from everybody.
After the crowd had booed you, did you think you were still going to win?
They didn't boo me; they just kept quiet. If they booed, I didn't hear it. I wasn't moved at all. From the camping period to the finals, I wasn't moved. I've been with my mum and she is a very strong person. There is nothing that moves us in the family, right from when we were small. I think we were trained like that. We were taught not to fear. I was sure I would win, because there are people that get jobs they are not qualified for. So, that was what I had in my mind. Even if I had kept quiet and looked as if I didn't know the answer to the question, I would still have won the MBGN.
What could have given you such confidence? Are you saying this because you have already won?
I attend Christ Embassy and my pastor always told us to believe, and I did. Winning the crown was like a miracle that was waiting to happen.
You were confident of winning the MBGN and you won. Are you also confident of winning the Miss World contest?
In fact, I am more than confident. MBGN was my first pageant. I should have been a little shaky. Now, I'm over-confident, because I know what if feels like to be with different people from different states. I think I'm more confident now. And I'm the only person representing Nigeria. So, it will just be between me and the other countries.
How has life been as a beauty queen?
It's been nice; exactly like I dreamed it. I have always wanted to feel and be treated this way. I love every minute of it.
So you don't mind that your private life is now in the open?
That's the idea. If you planned your life to be a beauty queen or to be in the entertainment world, you should also be prepared to live your life in the open. If you don't want it to be so, why then did you choose to go there? I don't mind that my private life is no more my own.
You don't look like someone that has tasted the rough side of life. Are you from a wealthy home?
I don't know how to answer that question, because there are ups and downs in life. We experienced that in my family a bit before we started all over again. My father is not in Nigeria; he works in London. He is kind and fun to be with, but he is not always around. I was like the first in the house because my elder brother, who is actually the first-born, was not around for a long time. But he is back now. So, as a young girl, I was like the mum and the dad. I took care of my younger sister and brother. I have three siblings.
Do you have any pet project?
I'm working on not just breast cancer but also HIV/AIDS and malaria. I'm focusing on HIV and malaria. I don't want to do everything at the same time. I've been working on malaria but now I?m moving to HIV. I stay in Abuja and I have been going to remote areas. We do something called ‘nature call'.
We go to remote areas where people don't even know how to speak English. We go as early as six o'clock, knock on their doors and give them malaria drugs and treated nets, especially the pregnant women and nursing mothers.
You have a boyfriend.
I don't have any boyfriend. I didn't have one before I became a queen and I don't have one now.
Why don't you have one? Do you think you are too young?
I didn't have a boyfriend. I have family friends. My mum didn't want me to have a boyfriend back then, because she thought I was too young for it. Apart from her not wanting it, I wasn't ready for it. I was focused, so I didn't want any distraction. Now, I am the MBGN and I should concentrate on my reign.
Is there any guy you admire?
I don't have a particular person in mind, but I do admire guys. I am not in love with any of them.
If you see a fine guy who is tall and ready to spend money on you, will you accept him?
I won't. If it is someone I like, I will ask him to wait for me if he can. I am not planning to marry now and I don't think the person would want to wait for me. I don't want to keep someone waiting until I am ready to get married, because by then I might change my mind about what I'm looking for in a man. I'm thinking of getting married at 26. I will be matured then.
How do you handle male admirers?
I don't even know how I handle them because I've not seen anybody come around me and say anything.
You don't have ‘toasters' in school?
It couldn't have happened in school, because after securing admission into the University of Abuja with my sister, I left for the MBGN camp and had to defer my admission.
You don't care that your younger sister is ahead of you now?
I don't mind because if I were in school this year, I would be thinking of how I would go and model for different people so as to chart my way to being a top model and a beauty queen. So, I am happy.
Since you love modelling so much, do you think it's still necessary for you to go to school?
I think it's necessary. At some point in the entertainment industry, practitioners go back to school. So, school is the main thing, and it is better I finish it now and continue with what I'm doing. I've programmed my mind to go back to school after my reign.
Do you intend to be a lawyer?
My mum is a lawyer, so I want to have an idea of law before I move into International Relations, which is what I really want to do.
What did you do with your prize money?
Apart from spending some of it on myself, I used part of it to help my mum and contributed to other things we do in the house.
Apart from being a queen, what else do you want to do?
I want to get more involved in modelling and also try my hands on dancing.
Not acting. And I don't think I have the voice for music. I dance very well, but the priority now is modelling.
How do you want to be seen?
I want to be seen as someone the younger people would look up to in life; someone that has achieved a lot, not just for myself but my country and the world. Like I am going for Miss World and I hope to win. I hope that will provide a platform for me to achieve a lot in life and be able to help the youth.
We hear you became arrogant as soon as you won the crown, and you dismissed your former friends.
All my friends are still my friends. I can't count how many friends I've made now. All I do with my new friends is if I need anything, I call them. But all the friends I had before I won the crown are still my friends. I joke with them the way we used to do before. I even went to Enugu after winning the crown because that is where most of my friends stay. I joked with them and they said they were not seeing the queen thing in me. They have been with me for long and I can't drop them now. Some who are my friends now are my friends because I won MBGN. I don't really keep in touch with them because I know that after my reign, some of them will fade away.
What part of being a queen do you dislike?
I don't like the part of keeping to time, because I?m not the kind of person that enjoys waking up early. I'm learning it now. I now have to get up early to meet up with appointments and all that.
How are you preparing to make n impact at Miss World?
Right now, I'm building my profile. I am working on my project, which I am going to South Africa with. I will show them what we have in Nigeria. I will do traditional dances, which will be a mix of all the tribes in Nigeria. Despite the things I'm going to do in camp, I won't just be with African people alone; I will mix with everybody, including those who cannot speak English. I will be focused and I know I'm going to get the crown. I'm very sure. I've worked on my poise and catwalk while in the MBGN camp, and I am still working on it.
Are you are sure you are going to bring the crown back?
When Agbani won, she was the first black woman to win, and it was held in South Africa. Now Miss World is going back to South Africa, so I think it's a luck thing and I'm going to get the crown, like she did.