Meet the cab driver who returned N18m to owner

Corruption and greed may have eaten deep in today’s Nigeria, but the action of an airport taxi driver, Mr. Imeh Usua, who returned N18 million to a British passenger, proves that honest people still abound among Nigerians irrespective of status.

Although, it happened in 2007, the story of Mr. Imeh Usua attracted public attention last month when the Nigerian Network of Women Exporters of Service (NNWES) honoured him with an award for returning a bag left in his car by a British passenger containing foreign currency worth N18 million. Daily Trust reporter traced him to his place of work, the Abuja airport to get what he is made up of.

Mr. Imeh cuts the figure of an ebullient yet easy going fellow. As this reporter interviewed him in the parking lot of the local wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, both men and women who passed by hailed him, calling ‘the Jaja’, his alias.

Although, he is 66 years old, his agility and resourcefulness would suggest he is in his 50s.

The incident took place on 5th of November 2007 when Mr. Imeh was on his routine job schedule; taking his turn to pick passengers from the airport to their destinations in Abuja.

Mr. Imeh said: “It was November 5, 2007. I was at the airport very early because the British Airways (BA) usually arrives from 4:30 am. It was still dark when I took two of the male passengers that disembarked from the BA flight to the Transcorp Hilton Hotel. When I came back to the airport, I went straight to the car wash. It was during the cleaning that the person washing the car drew my attention to the bag. The guy said, ‘Oga, keep your bag so that it won’t get wet’. The bag which was at the back seat was apparently left behind by the two passengers. I immediately informed my boss at the airport who asked me to return to Transcorp where I dropped the Britons. I went back and found them at the entrance looking into the clouds, worried. Then it was dawn. I brought out the bag for them. They were very excited and thanked me. They asked for my name and phone number which I told them. I didn’t know how much the money was. It was when I got back that my boss called me to inform me that the British passenger who owned the back called to say that among others, the money in the bag in foreign currency was worth N18 million.”

Mr. Imeh also told Daily Trust: “I can never take another person’s money. I am very happy that am being recognized and I would like to say that I have returned many more of people’s belonging in recent times. A month after the N18 million incident, I returned $300,000 to another passenger who forgot it in an envelope in my car.”  The man only wrote a commendation letter for him, thanked him and left.

Mr Imeh could have made away with the bag, envelope and their contents because a passenger could forget his luggage or items in the aircraft.  But he didn’t do that which stand him out in a crowd often accused of dishonesty.

A week after the NNWES award, the Nigerian Orientation Agency (NOA) also honored him with an integrity award and a cash reward of N30,000.

Shortly after the incident in 2007, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) gave him an award. That was all that happened until the NNWES award reawakened the event last month.

At the ceremony, NNWES President Barr. Nkiru Joy Okpala said although, the incident took place in 2007, it was not too late to recognize Imeh for his honest act.

Another notable incident he recalled was that of one Mr. Mathias, a former staff of the African Independent Television (AIT). He said Mathias forgot his video camera and a mobile phone in his car and because the phone was on silent mode, he (Imeh) didn’t hear it ring uptil the point of cleaning the car. By that time, the phone had recorded 39 missed calls. He mentioned to his boss as usual and returned it to the owner at AIT. Mr. Mathias thanked him and gave him the money equivalent to taking a drop from the airport.

Imeh says he is fulfilled even though no big financial recognition seems to have come his way because his integrity remains intact and conscience clear. “I will repeat it over and over again. By my training and upbringing, I am not given to keeping what is not mine. It is the same training I have given my children which is why they often support me each time there is such an incident,” he said.

Mr. Imeh hails from Akwa Ibom State. He has been an airport taxi driver for the past 10 years, he says. He is married with six children; three males and three females. Before venturing into cab driving, he worked at construction giants, Julius Berger. He left Julius Berger in 1999. In the last nine years, Imeh had been driving another person’s car until this year. He bought his on hire purchase. But his humble means didn’t tempt him into making away with the bags and other items belonging to others.

The registered taxi drivers at the airport number over 700 Daily Trust gathered. They take their turns to pick up passengers when they are available. A trip from the airport cost N5,000. Until January 2012, when the federal government partially removed fuel subsidy, it was N4,000. In 2007, it was N3,500. Due to the huge number of cabs, sometimes, a driver could wait for two to three days to get a turn, Mr. Imeh says.

All things being equal, an individual taxi driver makes an average of N35,000 weekly. But things are hardly equal as the over 700 members slowly wait for their turns, sometime waiting for two to three days to get one patronage.

He said there are many unclaimed forgotten items at the airport taxi services office. The drivers have been trained not to tamper with passenger’s luggage, he explained.

Culled: Dailytrust