Buhari Honours Customs Officer who Rejected N6B Bribe, Airport Cleaner who Returned Millions Misplaced by Passengers

Malik Yahya/

Two Nigerians whose exemplary conducts embodied the anti-corruption drive of the current administration were today honoured with the ICPC Integrity Award by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The two are, Bashir Abubakar, an Asstant Comptroller General of Customs, who rejected a bribe of approximately N6 billion offered him by a cartel that wanted to bring 40 containers of banned Tramadol tablets into the country and Mrs Josephine Ugwu, a former cleaner at the Lagos airport, who found and returned millions of naira forgotten in the toilet by passengers.

Ugwu was also presented a house, the key of which was handed over to her by the President.

The two were honoured during the opening ceremony of the National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in Public Sector, at the State House Conference Centre today in Abuja.

The event was organised by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).

Writing about the two on his verified Twitter handle, @MBuhari, the President said:

“On more than one occasion, Mrs Josephine Ugwu, a former cleaner at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, found and returned millions of naira forgotten in the toilet by airport users. Today it was my privilege to present her with an ICPC Integrity Award.

“Also found worthy of honour was Bashir Abubakar, an Asst Comptroller-General of Customs, who rejected a bribe of $412,000 per container offered him by drug traffickers seeking to bring 40 containers of Tramadol into Nigeria. A fine example of incorruptibility,worthy of emulation.”

Ugwu, who was earning N12,000 salary, had on different occasions returned millions of naira found in the course of her duty, including the sum of 12 million dollars forgotten in the toilet by an airport user.

Speaking at the event, the President stressed the need for Nigerians to uphold the traditionally cherished values of honesty and integrity.

He said: ‘‘Let me again note with concern the need to uphold the values of loyalty, honesty, trust, and integrity that were once cherished in our public service.

‘‘Ethics and integrity are the foundation of an enduring society.

‘‘Nigerian culture does not tolerate dishonesty. Therefore, we must reclaim our traditional values of honesty, integrity and hard work.

‘‘In spite of the few bad eggs, I am delighted that many Nigerians still hold on to our traditionally cherished values of honesty and integrity.’’

He also called on the National Assembly to fast-track the passage of the Special Crimes Court Bill, while urging the judiciary to embrace and support the creation of the Special Crimes Court.

‘‘The fight against corruption is of course not only for government and anti-corruption agencies alone. All arms and tiers of government must develop and implement the anti-corruption measures.

‘‘I invite the legislative and judicial arms of government to embrace and support the creation of Special Crimes Court that Nigerians have been agitating for to handle corruption cases,’’ Buhari said.

He further noted that the passage of the Bill was a ‘‘specific priority’’ of this administration’s Economic Recovery & Growth Plan 2017-2020.

The President also used the occasion, which marked the launch of the Constituency Projects Transparency Group (CPTG) Report Phase One, to reiterate his appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians to join in the fight against corruption.

He disclosed that the over N1 trillion spent on the constituency projects of National Assembly members in the last 10 years has produced no results.

According to him, data collected from Nigerians in rural communities showed that they had not felt the impact of such projects.

“N1tn has been appropriated in the last 10 years for constituency projects, but the impact can hardly be seen,” the President said.

He therefore directed the ICPC to go after the contractors who collected funds for such projects and their collaborators in government.

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