Zannah Mustapha, a Nigerian lawyer who helped to secure the release of dozens of the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents was on Monday announced as the winner of the United Nations Nansen Refugee Award.

The United Nations refugees agency, UNHCR bestowed the honour on Zannah for mediating in the release of the girls and for providing free education to children displaced by the violence and those orphaned by the eight-year insurgency in northeastern Nigeria.

An elated Zannah said after receiving the award: ”I am exceedingly happy and motivated to do more. . .I will scale up my efforts. Some of the student that started in my school have graduated and they are now going into the university. I can use this money to help them complete the cycle.”

Past winners of the award which comes with a $150,000 largesse given to the recipients to fund a project complementing their existing work include Eleanor Roosevelt and Luciano Pavarotti.