A Nigerian policewoman Catherine Ugorji serving with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has been selected for the prestigious UN Woman Police Officer of the Year award for 2020.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix in a statement by the National Information Officer of the UN System in Nigeria Oluseyi Soremekun said that through both her words and actions, Ugorji exemplifies the best of UN policing.
Of the 1,300 UN policewomen deployed in UN peacekeeping operations, 21 were nominated for the award.
Ugorji joined the Nigeria Police Force in 2003 and served as criminal investigator from the local to regional level, child protection officer, divisional crime officer up to acting deputy commander of the Ogudu Police Division in Lagos.
The UN said 1,300 UN policewomen deployed in UN peacekeeping operations, 21 were nominated for the award and Chief Inspector Doreen Malambo of Zambia, serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), would receive the award.
The award would be presented during a virtual ceremony presided over by Mr Lacroix on November 3.
UN Police Advisor Luis Carrilho congratulated Ugorji for being chosen as a runner-up and described her leadership of “three Formed Police Units (FPU) in Gao” as remarkable.
The UN Woman Police Officer of the Year award was established in 2011 to recognise the exceptional contributions of female officers to UN peacekeeping and to promote the empowerment of women.
