LAGOS – A Nigerian news reporter has won the third BBC World News Komla Dumor Award in recognition of her special reports on high-profile news stories, including the Boko Haram insurgency.

“I was overwhelmed with joy. Storytellers have always had an important role in Africa… this is what defines us,” Amina Yuguda, a news presenter on local network Gotel Television, told BBC on Tuesday, September 19.

“Today journalists are taking on that responsibility.”

Yuguda will start a three-month placement at the BBC in London in September.

The award was created to honor Komla Dumor, a presenter for BBC World News, who died suddenly aged 41 in 2014.

Saying her win was a “huge honor”, Yuguda is excited to work at the BBC.

“With little or no formal education, my countrymen can hold their own on a variety of topics, including the Trump presidency in America, North Korea’s defiance, Russia’s foreign relations under Putin, and more.”

BBC World Service Group Director Francesca Unsworth said Yuguda was a worthy winner:

“To find someone who possesses many of Komla’s qualities is something for us to celebrate, and we are very excited about working with Amina.”

Previous winners of the Komla Dumor Award were Ugandan news anchor Nancy Kacungira and Nigerian business journalist Didi Akinyelure.

Earlier this month, Zannah Mustapha, a Nigerian Muslim teacher, won this year’s prestigious UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award in recognition of his efforts to teach orphans of both Islamic fighters and Nigerian army soldiers.

Last June, Miss Lateefat Abiola Oyeleye, a Muslim student from Nigeria’s Osun state, emerged as the overall best medical student of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine.