Once every year a national beauty queen is crowned in Nigeria, and address as The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria – MBGN. It suddenly occurred to us that the MBGN franchise could be extended to the uppermost reaches of the exclusive club of women in public office in Nigeria – The ‘Most Beautiful Girl in Government in Nigeria (MBGGN)’.
That there can even be a contest like this may be testament to how far we’ve come in Nigeria, from an age when women in government were a rarity. Not many people will remember the Babangida days, when for eight years there was not a single female Minister in the country.
And yes, we know, these are not ‘girls’, they are women, thank you.
But we have settled for girls for two reasons: to preserve the ‘MBGN’ connection/inspiration, as well as pay homage to the popular usage of ‘Girls’ (and ‘Boys’) in the Niglish of soft-sell magazines and gossip blogs.
Speaking of ‘Boys’, next week you will get a chance to select ‘Mr. Government.’ Voting starts now.
