President Muhmmadu Buhari has charged Nigerians, home and abroad, especially youths, to learn the good example led by a Nigerian doctorate student in Japan, Mr Ikenna Nweke.
Nweke, working on his doctoral programme at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, returned a lost wallet loaded with a huge sum to the Japanese authorities.
He then turned down a percentage offered by the authorities for his honesty.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, the President celebrated Nweke’s display of honesty, noting that he had reflected the real Nigerian tradition, adding that no Nigerian community condones dishonesty.
He also noted that Nweke’s display was the exact quality needed to hold the country together, especially now that Nigeria needed every spotlight to show to the world that the nation is made up mostly of virtuous characters.
“President Muhammadu Buhari sends warm greetings and commendation to a Nigerian doctorate student in University of Tsukuba, Japan, Mr Ikenna Nweke, who returned a missing wallet with huge sums of money to the police, and also turned down offer of a percentage by the authorities.
“President Buhari salutes Nweke for projecting the values of honesty, integrity and contentment that should be the hallmark of a people, noting that good virtues and propriety are the hallmark of every culture in Nigeria, while crimes and criminalities are exceptions.
“The President believes Nweke’s behaviour, coming at a period that the country needs a positive spotlight and close-up on its real values, clearly signposts what should hold the nation together, inspired by solid foundations laid by most families, religious bodies and communities for success in life.
“President Buhari wishes Nweke all the best in his studies and work as a teaching assistant in same university, urging all Nigerians, home and abroad, to keep celebrating the age-old, irreplaceable attributes of honesty and decorum, and shun the microwaved, get-rich-quick tendencies that bring individual and collective shame”, the statement said.

By Bolaji Ogundele