ONE of the recipients of the Leadership Newspapers’ 2023 Merit Award for Excellence was Auwalu, a Kano-based tri-cycle (keke) commercial operator. The journey towards the award started in August, 2023, when the young Nigerian of about 22 years returned a whopping sum of N15m forgotten in his vehicle by a passenger, a Chadian international trader who was in the country for some business transactions. Auwalu never knew the foreigner from Adam.
Many unscrupulous fellows were quick to submit that the young man missed his opportunity to become financially emancipated from the shackles of bad governance-induced poverty in a country where honesty and integrity have become so scarce that the younger generations may never come across them.
Really, here is a country where there is always a hidden assumption that people must be fraudulent to succeed, especially financially. There are also folks who present all the nation’s leaders as treasury looters who will never appreciate honest life styles in the society. Worst still is the attitudes of bestowing accolades on individuals with ostentatious life patterns without questioning the sources of their wealth.
It is therefore heartwarming to note the guesture of the Leadership newspapers which did not only notice the uncommon attitude displayed by Auwalu, but also went ahead to select him for their 2023 personalities of the year award.
Another similar incident took place in Asaba, Delta state recently where a retired Senior Police officer, S.P Lawrence Ogoegbulem (rtd.) who also served as the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to former Governor Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa went to Maxihealth Pharmacy to purchase drugs worth N10,000. He had no cash on him and therefore decided to pay through electronic funds transfer with his mobile telephone. But instead of transferring ten thousand naira, the senior citizen sent N100,000 to the sales girl and left. The lady later noticed that the man paid N90,000 higher than what was supposed to be the cost of the purchased items but she had no means of contacting their customer to inform him of the error.
To worsen the matter, the man did not even notice his mistake until about three weeks later when he went back to the same store for similar transactions. On sighting him, the young girls on duty started jubilating, to astonishment of their client. Citizen Lawrence was shocked to learn that he overpaid for the items he received from the sales girls previously. There and then, the shop attendants demanded for his account details and refunded the said mistakenly paid excess money to him. CSO, as he is fondly addressed by former colleagues was amazed and wondered loudly whether he was still in Nigeria.
In the case of Auwalu, who probably would have been content with the award from the Leadership Newspapers, he was also shocked when the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party at the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi announced that himself and his running mate, Dr. Datti Ahmed have agreed to grant a full university scholarship at Baze University, Abuja to him. According to Obi, the gesture would cover his tuition, feeding and accommodation for the duration of his studies in the institution.
Additionally, the governor of Niger state, Alhaji Umar Bago announced a total scholarship package of N250m for the “keke” rider, promising that N50m of the award will come from him and his family while the same amount will be provided by each of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, APC governors, APC ministers and the government of Niger State.
There are pockets of these kinds of commendable acts of sincerity in Nigeria with little or no attention from the government or the news media.
While the citizens of the nation crave for good governance and prosperity for the country, the aspiration will remain a wild gees chase until the missing link – honesty and integrity are incorporated into the daily lives of the people. Perhaps unknown to Nigerians, these are the strongest and most precious capital required for project Nigeria, not monies from World Bank or IMF. Developed nations are striving on these virtues in addition to their God-given human and natural resources if any.
The significance of honesty and integrity in nation building cannot be overemphasized. One of their bye products is peace. Another is the attraction of investors of all sorts. This fact underscores the reason behind the naming of Geneva, the capital of Switzerland as the “peace capital’’ of the world. It accommodates the headquarters of international organisations such the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Committee of the Red Cross, International organization for Standardisation, UNAIDS, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), World Bank, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) amongst others.
One, out of every six citizens in the country owns properties worth $1m (over N1.5 billion) and above. With this, she is considered to have the highest population density of millionaires in the world in addition to being ranked as the sixth richest nation globally. Apart from the invention of the computer mouse and production of a few unpopular export items, the country derives much of her wealth from banking, insurance, tourism and by extension; honesty, integrity and financial discipline. If this country can survive with these virtues, it means Nigeria can do much more with her abundant mineral resources added to impeccable characters as displayed by Auwalu, Maxihealth Pharmacy officials and others.
The long and short of all of these is that rewards for excellence must henceforth form the norm in the country’s national life. This will cause more “Auwalus” to begin to emerge from all groups, including political class and academics in the most populous black nation in the world
In the light of this, government institutions such as National Orientation Agencies, Code of Conduct Bureau, different levels of schools and the governments at all levels must begin to collaborate intentionally to declare state of emergency on sincerity and Integrity. These two items have the capacity to turn the economy of Nigeria and the citizens therein around positively.
