Danielle Adewusi was crowned Miss Universe Nigeria 2026 on Sunday at Balmoral Hall, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The Lagos State representative defeated 19 other contestants after weeks of camp activities, advocacy projects, talent showcases and stage performances.
Adewusi is a medical doctor. She studied Medicine at King’s College London, earning an MBBS and a first-class BSc in Psychology. She founded Scrub The Stigma, a women’s health organisation focused on education and advocacy in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. The initiative runs health education programmes, including Educate Lagos and Educate Edo, which provide young people with information about menstrual health and wellbeing.
Her victory continues a family pageant legacy. Her mother, Tonia Okogbenin, won Miss Universe Nigeria in 1991. Adewusi told The PUNCH before the competition that pageantry was not initially her focus. “My priority was excelling in school, studying Medicine and becoming a doctor,” she said. She later realised pageantry could bring together her interests in medicine, women’s health advocacy, modelling and public speaking.
She previously competed at Miss Universe Great Britain in 2023, finishing in the Top Five. She also served as a United Nations Women UK delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women.
The Top 10 finalists included representatives from Edo, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Abuja, Abia, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi. Anita Osikhena of Edo emerged first runner-up, while Myya Jones of Cross River was second runner-up. Osikhena won the Pitch Your Dream Competition, receiving ₦1 million from Yolo Island and a two-night stay at Yolo Island Beach Resort. She also won the Best Advocacy Project award, taking home ₦500,000 and a one-year supply of Golden Penny products.
Adewusi will represent Nigeria at the 75th Miss Universe Festival on 24 November in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She will take her Scrub the Stigma advocacy project to the global stage.
Winners and Losers
Winners: Danielle Adewusi, who gains a national and international platform for her advocacy. The Silverbird Group, which produced a pageant with a credible winner and family narrative. Women’s health advocates, who gain a high-profile voice.
Losers: The 19 other contestants, who lost a competition that only one person could win. Pageant sceptics, who must contend with a winner whose medical credentials complicate the “beauty queen” stereotype.
Bottom Line: A crown is a platform. Adewusi enters with a medical degree, an advocacy organisation and a family legacy. The question is what she builds with it.