Maristella Okpala Emerges Miss Earth Nigeria

After much hype and anticipation, the 17th edition of Miss Earth Nigeria pageant held at the prestigious Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt in Rivers State, last Saturday, September 8.

As expected, it was a grand event but the build-up to the event had all the contestants camped for 10 days at the exotic Reventon Park Hotel (Lamborghini) hotel, Port Harcourt.

This proved to be another plus for Rivers State as it attracted tons of tourists to the state.

The Theme for this year’s pageant was ‘Goddesses of the Earth’ and this edition had 17 beautiful ladies as finalists contesting for the prestigious crown.

Worthy of note is that over 1000 ladies took part in the qualifiers and in the end, four of the girls emerged as the flag bearers accordingly.

However, Maristella Okpala emerged the winner of the night, thus earning the title Miss Earth Nigeria ‘Air’ while Vinna Snithers Briggs was the first runner-up and Miss Earth Nigeria ‘Water’. Other winners are Nna-Udosen Chikaodili Enobong, the second runner up and Miss Earth Nigeria Fire with Ekwemozo Adaobi being the third runner-up.

The new queen Miss Earth Nigeria is from Anambra State and she is a Dental Technician and an NCAA licensed cabin crew.

She will be flying the Nigerian flag at the Miss Earth World which will be held on the third of November in the Philippines with over 90 other countries.

Performing on the night were entertainers like Harrisong who was on hand to entertain guests.  Rivers State Culture was also on display as ‘Owembe boys’ masquerades from Obio/Akpor LGA thrilled the audience.

The event anchor was an on-air personality who was herself a former Miss Earth Nigeria pageant winner in 2006.

Ibinabor Fiberesima, the National Director of Miss Earth Nigeria pageant, was one of the attractions of the night.

She spoke with enthusiasm and passion as she introduced the pageant to the guests and afterwards commended the state governor, Nyesom Wike for providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the state.

She said: “Miss Earth Nigeria pageant is all about the environment; and Rivers State has indeed regained her former glory as the garden city all thanks to the governor.

“As you know, Miss Earth Pageant is all about the environment and who else is more passionate about the environment than Governor Wike? You can tell by his policies.”