5 living most Influential Nigerian Women.

 Agbani  Darego

Ibiagbanidokibubo ‘Agbani’ Asenite Darego (born December 22, 1982) is a model, best known as the first black African to be crowned Miss World in 2001.
Darego hails from Abonnema, Rivers, and was born into a family of eight children. At ten, Darego was sent to boarding school in a bid to shield her from her mother who had breast cancer. Darego’s mother died two years later, and her daughter has spoken of how the loss prepared her for the future.
As a teenager, Darego longed to be a model. Although her conservative father was against the idea, she entered the M-Net Face of Africa modelling competition, but failed to make it past the first round. She achieved greater success when she was crowned Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in 2001. Contrary to popular belief, Darego did not replace Valerie Peterside after the latter was dethroned – Peterside had won Miss Nigeria. Darego managed to divide her time between her official duties with her education at the University of Port Harcourt where she was studying Computer Science, and she represented Nigeria in the 2001 Miss Universe competition, held in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. She placed among the top 10 semi-finalists, finishing seventh. She was the only black semi-finalist that year – and the only finalist to wear a maillot swimsuit.]
In November 2001, Darego was crowned Miss World, beating Miss Scotland and Miss Aruba in the final round. Her victory in the pageant was widely welcomed in her home country, and her reign as MBGN was continued by Ann Suinner. Her one year tenure included goodwill trips and scheduled appearances on behalf of the pageant.
Darego left the University of Port Harcourt after her reign as Miss World ended in 2002, and is now studying Psychology at the New York University. She is signed to Next Model Management, and is currently pursuing a modelling career in Europe. In 2002 she was a spokesperson for L’Oréal cosmetics. In 2006, a catwalk model believed to be Darego posed Private at a fashion show], causing outrage in Nigeria. Darego has made no comment. Darego is currently working on a fashion reality show, soon to be aired on Nigerian television.

Genevive Nnaji

 Nnaji found mainstream Nollywood success in 1998. Despite her popularity as an actress, she has consistently added accolades, such as singer, producer and fashion designer to her name. In 2004 she became the face of Lux soap in a highly lucrative sponsorship deal. Among other actors and actresses, she released her first album, titled No More, in 2005, following a one year acting ban. Three years later in May, Nnaji launched her clothing line St. Genevieve which was a huge success as the simple, yet elegant easy-wear clothes.

Chimanda Ngozi Adichie

 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born September 15, 1977) is a writer whose first two novels won literary awards. She is a native of Abba, in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra state. At the age of 19, Adichie left Nigeria and moved to the United States for college. After studying at Drexel University in Philadelphia, she transferred to Eastern Connecticut State University to live closer to her sister, who had a medical practice in Coventry (now in Mansfield, Connecticut). She continued studying communications and political science. She received a university degree from Eastern, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2001.
In 2003, she completed a master’s degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 2008, she received a Master of Arts in African studies at Yale University.[2] Chimamanda is a 2008 MacArthur Fellow.[3]
Adichie had her first novel published in 2003. It received excellent reviews and won a literary award for first books. Her second novel won the 2007 Orange Prize for fiction.
In 2008, Adichie was a Visiting Writer at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where she participated in Wesleyan’s Distinguished Writers Series.
Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, was published in 2003 and won the 2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book.Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, named after the flag of the short-lived Biafran nation, is set before and during the Biafran War. It was published by Fourth Estate in the UK and by Knopf/Anchor in 2006. It was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Her third book, a collection of short stories titled The Thing Around Your Neck, was published in April 2009 by Fourth Estate in the UK and Knopf in the US

 

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born June 13, 1954) was the former Finance Minister and Foreign Minister of Nigeria, notable for being the first woman to hold either of those positions. She served as finance minister from July 2003 until her appointment as foreign minister in June 2006, and as foreign minister until her resignation in August 2006. Okonjo-Iweala was considered as a possible replacement for former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz. On October 4 2007 she was appointed as Managing Director of the World Bank by World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
Okonjo-Iweala is an Igbo[3] from Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State where her father Professor Chukuka Okonjo is the Obi, or King, from the Umu Obi Obahai Royal Family of Ogwashi-Ukwu.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude with an A.B. in 1977, and earned her Ph.D. in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is married – her husband is from Umuahia, Abia State.

Dame Patience Jonathan

 Patience Faka Jonathan (born 25 October 1957) is the current First Lady of Nigeria and a permanent secretary in her native Bayelsa state. She is married to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan. Born in Port Harcourt, she earned her school certificate in 1976, and passed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 1980. In 1989, she obtained the National Certificate of Education (NCE) in Mathematics and Biology from the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt. She then proceeded to the University of Port Harcourt and studied for a B.Ed in Biology and Psychology. Jonathan started her career as a teacher at the Stella Maris College, Port Harcourt and Sports Institute Isake. She then moved to the banking sector in 1997, where she established the first community bank in Port Harcourt called the Akpo Community Bank. She served as Marketing Manager of Imiete Community Bank. She returned to the classroom briefly again as a teacher. Eventually she was transferred to the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education, where she served until 29 May 1999 when her husband became the Deputy Governor of the state. On 12 July 2012, she was appointed as permanent secretary in Bayelsa state by a Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, who was helped to his governorship position by her husband (who was then the incumbent President). The appointment caused national outrage and ridicule considering she had been on leave from the civil service for over 13 years, since her husband became deputy governor in 1999, and some critics argued it was a national embarrassment highlighting there was no merit or evidence of any recent performance to warrant a promotion to the peak of the civil service. She and her husband have two children.