A Civil Society Organization, Accountability Lab Nigeria has disassociated itself from the Integrity Icon of Nigeria award organized by the Centre For Ethics and Self Value Orientation (CESVO), saying that Accountability Lab owns the copyright for the campaign name in the United States and Nigeria.

Accountability Lab Director, Odeh Friday in a statement noted that “We observed CESVO’s work and were concerned about Accountability Lab Nigeria’s work being linked to CESVO’s awards project. We are reaching out to CESVO to discuss our copyright concerns and hope to have the issue resolved soon.

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“Our Integrity Icon Nigeria team has worked with many communities and volunteers across 36 states to build support for our network of Nigerian public servants who have been awarded as Integrity Icons since 2017.

“It is important for us that this campaign retains its focus on non-political appointees like teachers, nurses, policemen ministries’ staff, and department and agency officers who consistently go beyond the call of duty. Equally, it’s important that the public continue to lead efforts to name and fame public servants who work in their regions.

“The campaign is citizen-led and expressly excludes political office holders. Local teams of volunteers travel across their regions gathering nominations from citizens, hosting public forums, and generating a national discourse on the need for public officials with integrity. The nominees are narrowed down to a final 5 in each country with the help of independent judges and short films are made about the Integrity Icons to model their work in the public sector”.