Following her historic performance at the 2024 Miss Universe pageant, Chidimma Adetshina, the Miss Universe Nigeria, has declared her intention to take a hiatus from beauty pageants.
In an exclusive interview with BBC Pidgin on Tuesday following her return to Nigeria, Adetshina spoke of her delight in the achievement, saying it surpassed her expectations.
Nigeria reached a new international milestone when Adetshina came first runner-up in the global pageant, which took place on November 16 at Arena CDMX in Mexico City.
She is the first runner-up from West Africa and Nigeria in history.
Along with competing against 125 other nations, the 23-year-old represented Nigeria and won the title of Miss Universe Africa and Oceania.
“I was so emotional when I was called into the top five. I had prepared myself mentally just to make it into the top 30. Surpassing my own expectations has made me very proud of myself,” she shared in Pidgin.
Adetshina announced plans to take a break from pageants despite her success in order to concentrate on her studies and look into new modelling and acting options.
“I want to put pageants aside for now and concentrate on my studies. I also want to explore other opportunities to establish myself,” she stated.
Further adding “I’m also looking forward to exploring runways, acting, and seeing where my potential takes me.”
Adetshina will collaborate with the Miss Universe organisation on a number of projects in her capacity as Miss Universe Africa and Oceania.
She disclosed that her work would entail travelling across nations for development-focused activities, while specifics are still unknown.
