Winners have emerged in the 2022 Gani Fawehinmi Impact and Integrity Awards (GFIIA), which was held on December 10, 2022 at the Colossus Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos.
The award organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) with the support of the MacArthur Foundation.
Winners Of 2022 Gani Fawehinmi Impact And Integrity Awards
- 91-year-old Pa Muibi Shonubi received the award for Outstanding Integrity Award.
- Richard Oghenerhoro emerged winner of the Valuable Whistle Blower.
- Barrister Inibehe Effiong emerged as the winner of the Outstanding Impact Award.
Sulaiman Arigbadu, HEDA in his welcome address said that the award was institutionalised first to immortalize the life and legacy of the late Gani Fawehinmi and also to inspire many more people to follow his legacy.
According to Sulaiman Arigbadu:
“We want to appreciate, honour, recognise and celebrate those Nigerians who despite all odds stood for the right thing like Gani Fawehinmi who decided to stand, even if it means standing alone.
The oldest recipient of our award, Pa Muibi Shonubi who did his art of valour as far back as 1971 and actually stood alone; he actually have to leave Ibadan and relocate to a remote area because society did not appreciate what he did such that he because popular as people described him as been foolish.
You can see today the man has lived a good life and at 90 he was been recognised, and we are going to make sure that beyond this recognition we will immortalise such names so that we would use such exercise to reverse the negative perception, reverse the damaged psyche of the society where we valueless people with the act of integrity and unfortunately celebrate people who are corrupt amongst us without asking them their source of overnight wealth.”
Femi Falana, human rights lawyer commended HEDA for sustaining the award on an annual basis. He said that the award is a way of encouraging people and a way of challenging the awardees so that they can keep up with what they are doing.
