Two British actors of Nigerian descent, Chiwetel Ejiofor and David Oyelowo, have received awards for their commitment to better the lives of Nigerians.

The top thespians received the Global Promise awards from a Los Angeles based non-profit organisation GRANCO Foundation on Monday night in Hollywood, California.

Ejiofor was especially touched by the organisation that provided computers, clothing, medicine and educational supplies to two Nigerian schools — one of which was founded by his mother.

“My mother really wishes that she could be here.

She can’t be here, because she’s there. She does the work, I get the award,” he quipped at the podium. The L.A.-based nonprofit also funded medical care and mental health support for the girls terrorised by Boko Haram. The org has drawn large donations from Oprah Winfrey, in honor of Oyelowo, and Ejiofor’s “12 Years a Slave” co-star Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B.

“We share a desire, a need and a want to reach back to our country of origin,” said Oyelowo about himself and Ejiofor; “To help particularly with those who are marginalised and those who are not as privileged as others and especially young girls, who are being really marginalized educationally, emotionally, physically.”

Upon presenting the awards, Afam Onyema, co-founder The GEANCO Foundation, described the evening as “not some artificial award that Hollywood hands out, this is a promise.”

Oyelewo shared his experience with Variety about other Hollywood award shows, including the highly criticised Oscars earlier this year and the historical Primetime Emmys the evening before.

“It’s fantastic, Nigerians are a very proud people,” said Oyelowo about Uzo Aduba’s Emmy win for supporting actress in a drama. “What Viola acknowledged last night, in terms of there still needing to be ground to be broken … What I think is that you have someone like her, who is undeniably talented, someone like Chiwetel … you have great actors and I think it’s just a question purely on not waiting for anyone.”

•Photo shows Ejiofor and Oyelowo.

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