A Nigerian activist, Olasupo Abideen, has been honoured with the outstanding integrity award at the 5th Gani Fawehinmi Impact and Integrity Awards.
At the event held in Lagos, Olasupo won the category for refunding the 2,397 USD dollars that was mistakenly paid into his account by a foreign organisation he consulted for.
The award, presented to him by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) was organised by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Resource Centre.
Olasupo who is the Executive Director of Brainbuilders Youth Development Initiative, (BBYDI), emerged winner of the award category ahead of few other nominees.
Olasupo dedicated the award to his parents whom he said, instilled a culture of honesty and transparency in him.
He said, “When I was a young, my mum always checked my bag when I came back from school. I never knew why until I was in secondary school and challenged her, she said she wanted to ensure I didn’t mistakenly pack anything not mine. My Dad always tells me and my siblings not to ever take what doesn’t belong to us, that we have a duty to always protect the name of our family,” he said.
The young entrepreneur and climate justice advocate who disclosed that he had had reasons to reject contracts because of kickbacks, said “when I got the over 2,397USD erroneously paid to my account, I never thought it twice to return it because it is not mine and I know mine will surely come.”
The Gani Fawehinmi Awards was instituted by HEDA Resource Centre with the support of MacArrthur Foundation in honour of the late human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Gani Fawehinmi.