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Miss Agwu works as a cleaner with Patovilki, a concessionaire handling the cleaning of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Vanguard starts. On her ordinary working day the woman found $28,000 and other foreign currencies totaling about N12m in one of the toilets. She never kept this money and did not even think about it, but refunded the whole sum to the owner.
Josephine confesses she has no regrets over her decision as she is sure it was the right one.
Interestingly, the woman was badly mocked in social media by some users who called her mad and silly.
The Lagos State House of Assembly, last Monday, concluded plans to invite and honour Ms Agwu. While her employer increased her salary from N7,800 to N15,000 monthly.
Speaking about the consequences of her decision, the cleaner said:
“On the part of my management, they are happy, all my supervisors. In short, they are doing good things for me. Now, they carry me like egg, even my MD.”
When the owner returned after his money, he counted and realized that the whole sum was present, he simply looked at Agwu and walked away. For the woman, it was already the third time she had returned lost bags with big money inside.
Josephine Ugwu revived the experience and spoke about her feelings:
“I am from Enugu State, from Obonkpa in Nsukka Local Government. I live at Agbotukunyo in Agege. The incident happened on the 23rd of January 2015. I was on morning duty. So as I was sweeping around 6:30pm, I saw the bag on the ground and there were some passengers there so I thought that the bag could belong to one of them. But as I closed at 7:20pm, the person to relieve me on duty came that time.”
“I was going to the toilet again, I saw the same bag there. Then I told the passengers sitting there that they should be mindful of the bag because once they announce the flight they may forget it. They replied that the bag did not belong to them. Three of the passengers left, so I then picked the bag and took it to the FAAN security people. At first, they put the bag on the screening machine, before they opened the bag and discovered that there were many envelops in the bag containing money in different currencies including dollars.
“As they were counting it, I saw an NDLEA woman accompanied by one man and both of them were coming towards us. They said that the man could be the owner of the bag. So when they came in, they interviewed the man and the man mentioned the amount of money and the colour of the bag. Before then, they had counted the money and it was exactly the amount that the man said.
“Then they carried the money and gave to the man for him to count. After counting, they asked him if the money was complete, he said yes and they snapped him picture. They asked him again about three times and they told the man that, ‘look at the woman that picked your bag’, and the man was looking at me. His name is Mr. Obinna Samuel. They told him that he should thank his God that if it were another person, that person would have run away with the bag but this woman didn’t do that. So I left and the man took the money and put inside the bag and went away.
“Then FAAN [Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria] security personnel called me back, and they took my number On-Duty-Card (ODC) and my name. That was how it happened. People are praising me, FAAN said that they are going to give me automatic employment but I have not heard from them till now.”
Patovilki administration represented by Mrs. Eunice Anumudu, Manager, Airport Zone, said in the interview given over the weekend:
“Since the incident, people have been reacting to it and they have been praising her for what she has done, and that she did well and several people have been calling her.
“My own impression as a manager is that she did well because that is what we told them at the initial time that she was searching for the job. We told her that as you are looking for this job, the salary is too small. Can you do the work? She said ‘yes’, so we told her that anywhere we put you, you have to behave well because this is an airport. We have many ogas here, you don’t know who is who. If they ask you question that you cannot answer, you look for the supervisor or the manager to answer the question.
“Wherever we post you and anything that you see there, don’t take it home. Take it to the security because that thing does not belong to us. It is the passenger that has it. You know, some of the passengers, when they travel, some of them will leave their bags and sometimes phones in the toilet.
“So, we told them to behave well, respect everybody. Since this incident happened, she has not been promoted to a supervisor or other higher position, but we contacted our Managing Director and what she did was to increase her salary. The MD was happy about what Miss Josphine Ugwu. She has agreed to increase her salary from N7,800 to N15,000.”
Commenting on the negative reactions by some Nigerians to her move, Josephine said that people should appreciate what they have.
“People do a lot of bad things because they are not happy with what they have. With the little I earn, I try to manage it well. If I can’t manage that small money that I earn, even if I begin to earn N1 million, I will still not know how to manage it.
“So, I am telling every Nigerian to be happy in any situation they find themselves. Don’t be faster than your shadow because so many things will go wrong. Sometimes things get bad because people want to be like others. All fingers are not equal. It is true that God promised those who serve him riches, but people should be careful how they go about it. I am telling people to have patience. It is because people want quick money that is why some people become thieves.
“On the part of my management, in fact they are happy, all my supervisors. In short they are doing good things for me, even they are carrying me like egg, even my MD. They have added money to my salary. In short, my manager, Madam Eunice has been doing many things for me since the incident, praising me. She said that she knows that she can trust me, and that I cannot see anything that does not belong to me and I take it away.”
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