The best way to start a piece of this nature is not by being subjective. But I shall be, craving the indulgence of every reader. I belong to a facebook group where one day the honesty of one Mr. Imeh Usuah was a topic of discourse.
The story goes thus: Mr. Imeh Usuah is a taxi driver who plies the Nnamdi Azikiwe international Airport route. He is a native of Ubokudom in Akwa Ibom state. Like every common Nigerian, poverty defines Imeh's life. Despite his poverty, Mr. Usuah is man who cannot compromise his morals. He does not claim this; he lives it, and has become an example that not all Nigerians have bowed their faces to the gaudy goddess of lucre.
Mr. Usuah says he lives this way because he has learnt many years ago to live within the limits of his income without compromising morals. A father of six, he lives in a rented apartment in Pegi on the outskirts of Abuja with his family and he has just managed to send two of his children to tertiary institutions.
He had to relocate to Pegi when the Federal Capital Development Authority demolished his house at Aleita, one of the settlements the FCT Administration claimed are shanties, where he had lived for years. Usuah's case was compounded when he lost his job in 1999 in a construction company which led to his taking up commercial driving to make a living.
Fondly called Jaja by his admirers, Usuah says he has driven three cars since he started the job but they were taken from him at the end of the agreement entered into by their owners.
It was during one of his recent trips to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, that he picked a foreigner who forgot his money in foreign currencies. "When I came back to the airport after taking the foreigner to a hotel, I went to wash my car; and the man who was to wash it called my attention to a bag, asking me to remove it so that it would not be soaked in water.
"The money was kept in a bag under the seat of the car by the side of a laptop and I informed the chairman in charge of car hiring service at the airport before I decided to return to the hotel."
He said when he got to the hotel, he asked after the foreigner and gave him the bag, adding that he did not know the value of the contents of the bag until it was announced. And it was a whooping $120,000, (about N18 million naira).
After the news about Mr. Usuah's penchant for honesty hit the stands, many people called him names. Some said he should be expelled from his community. Some said his children should disown him as their father. One person on my fecebook page specifically cursed him that it would never be good for him, that his generations will die of hunger and penury. She was quick to rain same abuses to whoever stands up in the defense of Mr. Usuah.
The rage of these ones against Mr. Usuah goes to show how deep many Nigerians have collapsed into the mire of moral debasement. Men of Mr. Usuah quality are rarely seen. So-called leaders are embezzlers. Bureaucrats are pen robbers. Men of the security forces are extortionists. Even in the religious centres, cheats are in key positions, looting and siphoning.
If you misplace your phone on the streets, it is highly unlikely you will ever find it. It reported that eight out of every ten phones lost in Nigeria will never be found by their owners. Three out them are out-rightly stolen. Many Nigerians who are given titles and special seats in big events made their wealth by stealing from the state or fellow Nigerians. Tacitly, no Nigerian, not even in the religious places ask questions about these wealth, especially ones that come over night.
"While those who have made it today are celebrating and are being celebrated, those who have not made it are in mad pursuit of wealth. Many are ready to do anything: embezzlement, kidnapping, robbery, stealing, forgery, and what have you, just to make it. Because honesty is no longer a virtue in this country, and no one is ready to ask those who have made it how their money came about. Even when people know the money did not come in a good way, they are silent, preferring cerebration of lucre than estrangement from such people." These are the words of Mallam Abdulrahman Aliagan who lives in Abuja.
His words indeed captures the reality of Nigeria moral setting. Unlike Mr. Usuah the former presidents, governors and members of the houses of assembly of this nation continue to be linked daily to criminal siphoning of the treasury. Some of them are never convicted in Nigeria, rather elsewhere abroad, a good case, the James Ibori saga. Not even the sitting governor of Delta state, a protégé of Ibori or the judiciary in the nation found the man to have stolen anything. But a UK court burst him through and handed him a conviction. Yet, both the police and the judiciary in Nigeria are yet to apologize to the masses for the gross ineptitude and partial collaboration in setting Ibori free in Nigeria. At the same time the 15 million dollars handed over by the erstwhile chairman of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is subject to controversy now, as no one can vouch where the money has gone.
"Indeed, Nigerians like Mr. Usuah are just a tiny minority. Even some pastors will steal the money this poor man returned and claim it was the blessing of God. They will pay tithe and stanch their minds of the voice of the spirit of God," said Pastor Chiedozie of the Watchman Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement, Lugbe Abuja.
He added further, "No Nigerian want to be a poor man. In fact in some Christian circle, it is evil to be poor. So, in essence do all you can to be rich, even if it means committing a crime or sinning against God. In such a setting where wealth is right, people like Mr. Usuah will be deplored, simple. "
But the action of Mr. Usuah's has eventually provoked the good nature of man in the heart of many Nigerians. Though, when the president shared the notional honours to men many Nigerians believe hardly deserved it, Mr. Usuah was forgotten. Perhaps national honours are not meant for poor folks like, their honesty irrespective. But recently the Nigeria Network of Women became the first organisation to honour Mr. Usuah. Sooner, he also received an award from Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Soon to join the cue to honour Mr. Usuah was the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr Mike Omeri. He was given a token of N30,000 by the agency. Though the amount was small, but spending it will come with joy and peace of mind, knowing it is a worthy and deserving gift, a product of his honesty.
But it didn't end there. Finally, fortune has smiled on the man. He is now a millionaire, and one with peace of mind. He emerged the winner of the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) maiden Integrity Award. Usuah was awarded a plaque and N2.5 million ($15,860) for his honesty.
Finally! Yes, finally. The man many called a Fool, an Idiot and other lampoonist names is now reaping his rewards. While speaking during the award ceremony, Ms Arunma Oteh, the Director- General of SEC said that the award was the commission's contributions towards the promotion, recognition and reward for integrity. "Usuah's exemplary act of honesty and integrity had sprinkled a burst of refreshing dew upon the national consciousness," Oteh said.
Yes indeed! His' has become a story that 'it is never too late,' and honesty pays even in a Nigerian nation wallowing in the throes of moral decadence.
Izuchukwu Okeke.