Agustina Armstrong - Ogbonna Awarded 2015 United Nations Gold Prize For Development And Humanitarian Reporting!

The 2015 United Nations Gold Prize Medal for Development and Humanitarian Reporting has been awarded to Lagos based Nigerian freelance multimedia journalist Augustina Armstrong-Ogbonna.

The award that was presented by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in New York was selected for her story on coastal erosion and development challenges affecting coastal communities in Lagos.

According to the UN “ Augustina braved danger to report on Nigeria’s coastal communities ravaged by conflict and degrading environment that affects development and human lives”.

Augustina has been in the forefront of reporting about underreported communities affected by socio-economic disparity with the aim of making government prioritize development for the voiceless and marginalized communities.

She was also recently chosen by the UNDP as a media fellow to the United Nations Summit on Climate Change in Paris, where her stories on degraded land in Northern Nigeria and renewable energy for a coastal community in Lagos was featured.

According to Augustina, I was just doing my job and telling the stories of communities impacted by climate change but never knew my work will be appreciated”. 

Other award recipients included Christiane Amanpour of CNN, Reuters and Al-Jazeera correspondents.