On July 8, this year, a Nigerian female pilgrim to the recently concluded Hajj, Hajia Aishatu y’an Nahuce, from Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara state, caught media attention back home for a good reason. She found $80,000 (N56m) and handed it over to the Zamfara Pilgrims Welfare Agency for onward transmission to the rightful owner.
Nigerians were still celebrating Hajia Aishatu’s demonstration of honesty when it was also reported at the weekend that a female employee of Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, Kekwaaru Ngozi Mary, turned over to the management the sum of $70,000 (N54,335,000) misplaced by a guest.
The duo of Aishatu and Mary have joined the list of Nigerians who have singled themselves out as men and women of uprightness in a country where such core values have been cast to the dogs.
Here are other instances: On July 16, 2019, a non-commissioned officer of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Bashir Umar, caught the national attention with his act of honesty. His truthful deed manifested in his return of 37,000 Euros he found in a parcel at the Hajj Camp Market in Kano. Aircraftman Bashir of the NAF’s Mobile Defence Team was deployed to the Aminu Kano International Airport on security duties.
In recognition of his show of integrity, the former Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, at a special occasion held on July 25, 2019, spokeabout how Bashir stumbled on the parcel during a routine patrol but concealed the contents, amounting to an equivalent of N14,843,300 which he handed over to the owner, Alhaji Ahmad, without the knowledge of his colleagues.
According to Bashir, he called the phone line on the envelope and invited the receiver to come over to the barracks for verification and confirmation of his ownership of the cash. Consequently, he handed over the cash to the owner and declined any appreciation from him, saying that he was satisfied with his pay.As a reward for his honesty, the chief of air staff gave him a commendation letter as well as a two-step promotion to the rank of a corporal.
Barely two weeks after Bashir stunned the entire nation, a cab operator under the Airport Car Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport returned a sum of $2,400 (about N888,000) kept in an envelope and forgotten in his cab by a passenger arriving from Cairo, Egypt.
Speaking about the money, the driver, Olayinka Adeniyi, told newsmen that he had never had it in mind to take someone’s belonging because it would put sorrow in the owner’s life.
Earlier on May 23, 2019, a cleaner at the same airport, Charity Bassey, found a rough-looking nylon bag containing $6,000 (N2m) in a toilet and handed it over to the security officials at the terminal who passed the cash to the rightful owner.
Charity, who worked with the Lakewood Development Company rendering janitorial services at the airport, said she was not rewarded by the owner of the cash who came around to look for the money. She said she was not discouraged by not being appreciated for her honesty.
Also in 2014, another airport cleaner named Josephine Agwu found the sum of N12m in a toilet and returned it to the appropriate authorities. Her employers, the Lakewood Development Company, celebrated and rewarded her for the gesture.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr. Sam Nchezor, saluted Josephine’s honesty, assuring that she would be compensated and her salary would be increased.
The demonstration of acts of honesty as seen in these Nigerians is an indication that all hope is not lost even in the face of the economic crunch and hard timesthat the nation is passing through. The prevailing situations are believed to have driven many Nigerians into all manner of criminalities ranging from armed banditry, kidnapping, cyber frauds, money rituals, etc., as a way out of their financial quagmire.
In appreciation of the honest deeds of these citizens, former President Muhammadu Buhari in November, 2019, honoured Mrs. Josephine Ugwu. Also honoured with an award of recognition was a Nigerian Customs officer, Bashir Abubakar, who had rejected a N150m bribe offered him by drug traffickers to import 40 containers loaded with Tramadol, a drug banned by the Federal Government.
Hajia Aishatu and Mary deserve recognition by government at all levels, corporate bodies and prominent individuals. There can be no better way to preach uprightness to Nigerians than through such gestures. These honest deeds, we believe, would serve as a conscience piercer for dishonest individuals amongst us.
