President Muhammadu Buhari has commended the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Airman Bashir Umar for was reported to have found and returned lost €37,000 at the Kano Airport.
President Buhari in a statement released by Mr Femi Adesina describes such honesty by Airman Bashir Umar of the Mobile Air Defence Team at the Hajj Camp Market in Kano as “uncommon, patriotic and exemplary,” the President enjoins Nigerians, especially the youth, to emulate such worthy gesture.
According to President Buhari, “Honesty and integrity will always remain admirable virtues, notwithstanding challenges before any country.”
He also applauds the leadership of the NAF for its decision to “reward the airman to encourage other personnel of the Service to continue to embody attitudes and behaviours that reflect NAF’s core values of Integrity, Excellence and Service Delivery.” he said.
This is coming a few days after the Director of Public Relations and Information of NAF, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola released a statement announcing what Bashir Umar did. This was the statement released by NAF talking about rewarding the Airman for his sincerity.
The NAF spokesperson said that the incident occurred at the Hajj Camp Market in Kano on Tuesday 16 July 2019, when ACM Bashir Umar, who is a member of the NAF Mobile Air Defence Team (MADT) deployed for airport security duties, while on routine patrol with some of his colleagues, found the money in a parcel. Fortunately, there was a phone number on the parcel which the Airman, Bashir Umar called, and eventually handed over the package to the owner.
Air Commodore Daramola stating further, said:
“Consequently, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has directed the Chief of Administration at the Headquarters NAF, Air Vice Marshal Kingsley Lar, to immediately come up with modalities to reward the airman so as to encourage other personnel of the Service to continue to embody attitudes and behaviours that reflect NAF’s core values of Integrity, Excellence and Service Delivery” he said.