One of the news highlights of last week was the decoration of two outstanding Nigerians with the Integrity Award by President Muhammadu Buhari. Assistant Comptroller- General (ACG) Bashir Abubakar of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, and Mrs Josephine Ugwu, a cleaner with Patovilki, a concessionaire handling the cleaning of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos. Both were garlanded by the President for exhibiting integrity in the performance of their official duties.
Mrs Agwu has a history of integrity. A low income earner on the lowest rung of a monthly wage of N7,800 (which was later increased to N15,000 by her employers as reward for her serial show of integrity), Mrs Ugwu was said to have at various times returned ‘lost and found’ cash (totaling over N40 million) to the authorities who located the actual owners of the cash. A worker earning N15,000 monthly wage in Nigeria is very, very poor. Ugwu is indeed poor but very rich in morals and self-contentment.
For her continual show of high moral values, she was lampooned by some Nigerians for nor being ‘smart’; for not knowing when God visited her with miracle. Her friends castigated her for being timid but she found solace in the joy of honesty. There is peace of mind that comes with integrity. It is the type of peace wrapped in petals of joy. Ugwu lives it, regales in it. Now, she has been shoved unto the dais of honour, sharing the podium with Mr. President and winning the hearts of millions of people around the world. She is trending for the right reasons. For her family, her company and country, Mrs Ugwu raises the banner of hope for the underclass, the hoi-polloi, the proletariat. Her message is simple: Poverty is not enough justification for greed, for stealing and for gloating over other persons’ property.
The other personage in the two-member cast of Presidential medal for integrity is a Customs officer. In Nigeria, the name Customs casts a shadow of filthy lucre. It conjures negativity bordering on graft. It’s historical. Nigeria Customs Service is not alone. Customs or workers associated with imports, tariff, duties and taxes are usually thought to be corrupt.
Remember Zacchaeus, the aristocratic dwarf and Matthew the Apostle in the Bible. Both men were tax collectors, equivalent of modern day Customs officers or taxmen. They were considered as filthy and corrupt and just too unclean for Master Jesus. In fact, the people were outraged that Jesus, with all his holiness, could be associated with both men. That says so much about duties and tax collectors. They are historically unloved by the people and in most cases tagged as corrupt.
The Nigeria Customs Service is no different. Customs? Oh, there goes a thief, a plunderer of public till. But not so with ACG Bashir Abubakar. He is a different breed. He did what many of the critics of Customs would fall for. Nigeria has been battling with the scourge of drug abuse among the youths. Codeine, tramadol etcetera have in recent years found their way into the closets and pockets of young Nigerians. And they have been abused in great measure, causing colossal damage to lives.
The Federal Government did the obvious: banned the importation and local manufacture of these drugs. But because addiction does not bow to fiats and orders, demand for these drugs surged. Even those who never encountered the drugs wanted just an experience with the drugs, either as aphrodisiacs or as stimulants, as we say in local parlance, to ‘get high’. Soon after the ban, more and more container loads of tramadol have been impounded by the Customs. The craving of all addicts is the same: Give me a fix and more fix.
Importers have to respond to increase in demand. It means they have to import more drugs. The more they import, the more money they make. This also means that the more of such drugs they import, the more lives they waste. The ban means more stringent rules have to apply. And the Customs was really up to the game: seizing and impounding container loads of the death agents.
But as they say, every man has a price. So, the importers approached Bashir Abubakar. He was Comptroller of Apapa area command. They offered him and his team the jaw-dropping sum of $420,000 (N151 million) to allow them ship into the market 40 containers laden with Tramadol. But the Abubakar and his team refused the bribe and seized the 40 units of 40ft containers of Tramadol and other pharmaceutical products with a Duty Paid Value of N7.3 billion. Such commendable act of integrity and dignity in labour earned Abubakar promotion to ACG.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) says “the rejection of N150 million bribe presents a picture of a reformed NCS whose operatives are increasingly putting national interest above selves.” I concur. Nigeria deserves a reformed Customs. Col. Ali was brutally frank about his resolve to cleanse the NCS when he assumed office. He has sacked a few officers, suspended some on account of misconduct. He has also at a time expressed dismay that despite his efforts, a few bad apples have continued to taint the entire basket. Now, the retired Colonel should be a happy man, in a sense. The testimony of ACG Bashir Abubakar should lift Ali’s spirit. The conferment of integrity award on a senior Customs officer by the same man who appointed Col Ali and asked him to reform and sanitise the Customs, speaks eloquently to an agency on the mend.
Importing 40 units of 40ft containers of tramadol is good business for the importers but very toxic for humanity. By seizing the goods, Abubakar and his team have saved lives. They have preserved the future of thousands of Nigerians. They have made a bold statement that there still exists within the Customs a remnant that will rather starve than eat the bread of corruption.
Ugwu and Abubakar have evinced our most cherished values of honesty and integrity. Nigeria has a history of integrity. Our founding fathers shunned bribery and graft to birth our Independence. Our forebears were a bunch of hardworking, honest people. It’s in our DNA to be true to ourselves. And we can still find our way to these paths of high moral rectitude.
I agree with President Buhari that ‘‘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,’’ the President said while presenting the awards to the duo.
In a season when a few bad apples have tarred us as internet scammers, election riggers, bribe givers and takers, it is heartwarming to see some Nigerians still advertising us in our true colour: a very brilliant colour that depicts hard work, virtue, values, uprightness and integrity. For those adept at dismissing Nigerians as corrupt, they should look to Ugwu and Abubakar as emblems of our values. They are exemplars of hope, hope in a better Nigeria. And they deserve their reward, even much more.