Olukemi Ibikunle, a Nigerian corrections officer serving with the UN Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), has received the prestigious 2025 UN Trailblazer Award for Women Justice and Corrections Officers for her pioneering work in prison infrastructure and rehabilitation projects.
The award ceremony took place at the UN Headquarters in New York on October 8, 2025. Ibikunle, who has served as MONUSCO’s Corrections Unit Engineer since 2020, has led several innovative projects aimed at improving prison conditions and aligning them with international standards in the DRC.
Among her notable achievements is the construction of a high-security prison block in Kabare for housing high-risk detainees, including armed group members.
She also designed a model prison blueprint to guide standardized prison development nationwide.One of her most impactful initiatives is the Biogas project at Uvira Prison, which converts waste into clean energy, enhancing environmental conditions and offering vocational training to inmates, thus aiding their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
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