Two honest security guards at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, who had earned the commendations of President Muhammadu Buhari and many Nigerians, were on Thursday rewarded with N250,000 each.
The guards, Mr Achi Daniel and Mr Francis Emepueaku of Halogen Securities, had returned a bag full of dollars and jewellery, which belonged to a Nigerian who returned from America
Daniel was with his colleague, Emepueaku, when he found the bag on August 18 at the airport.
Daniel said: “Inside the bag, we saw a mobile phone, jewellery and huge amount of money in dollars and several other documents.
“At that point, I went straight to the manager’s office who now put a call through to somebody in Atlanta Georgia, and the person happened to be daughter of the owner of the bag.
“If the money was in multi-millions of foreign currencies, I would still have returned it.
“I saw the bag on a trolley at the car park, and I said to myself that somebody must have forgotten it there.
“It was not padlocked and without opening it, I went to the ground floor with the bag to meet my supervisor,” Daniel told newsmen at the event.
The security guard said that it was not his first time of returning money in foreign currencies to their rightful owners.
“When they returned (passengers involved), they were jittery that some of the items in the bag might have vanished.
“But after crosschecking it, she (owner) discovered that everything was intact and the family attempted to give us some amount of money as a form of appreciation, which we rejected, telling them that we were doing our job.
“It never crossed my mind to steal the money; I wouldn’t have done that because it was not my first time of finding such and returning to the owners.
“No amount of money would make me to take what does not belong to me. I believe my own time will come and at the right time,” Daniel said.
Also, Mr Saleh Dunoma, the Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said that several other related cases had been recorded at the nation’s airports.
Dunoma, who was represented at the event by Mr Salisu Daura, the FAAN Director of Engineering Services, said that the duo’s act gave confidence and credibility to the agency’s security profiling system.
He said that the duo would “forever be remembered in the annals of the industry as role models, reference points, shining lights and good ambassadors.
“Some others may look at you and tag you stupid, but I want to assure you that by virtue of this act, you have secured seats for yourselves in the comity of those with credibility and integrity.
“I want to advice other members of staff to emulate this great virtue and become role models, just like these two security guards,” he said.