NAHCO worker returns N7.35m found in plane

 By Wole Shadare ngrguardiannews.com

FOR his rare show of honesty, Turkish Airlines has rewarded a worker of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), Mr. Salami Lateef Ibrahim, with an all-expenses paid return trip to Istanbul, Turkey for returning the sum of £25,000 (about N6.25 million) and €5,000 (about N1.1 million) totalling N7.35 million he found inside an aircraft at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA) Lagos.

Ibrahim, who is a cabin cleaning team leader, found the wallet containing the amount during a routine cleaning of an aircraft belonging to a different airline.

The NAHCO worker who was initially rewarded with a rebate ticket by the Turkish Airline’s Station Manager at the airport, Mr. Ovunc Bilgen had the ticket upgraded to a full return ticket by the Managing Director of the airline in Nigeria, Mr. Ali Bulut, who said “Mr. Ibrahim deserves it for his honesty.”
Bulut added: “This is an act that should be rewarded and encouraged because it is good for the aviation industry in Nigeria. Even though the incident did not take place on Turkish Airlines’ aircraft, we are happy that it happened at least in the industry.

“Where I come from, good behaviour is rewarded even if it is not directly to you. We appreciate Ibrahim so much and this is worthy of emulation for other aviation personnel that they must be trusted at all times and that good gesture such as this will surely be rewarded.’

“We are rewarding him with full free return ticket to Istanbul and he would be assisted in issuance of his visa for the trip as well.”

For his part, Ibrahim disclosed: “When I found the wallet inside the aircraft while cleaning it, I submitted it to security and airline personnel and the passenger came to collect the wallet in my presence. I want to thank Turkish Airlines for rewarding me on this. I thank them.”

Ibrahim had on September 11, 2009 found another wallet on the airline in question’s aircraft with large amount that he could not recall and returned it to the owner. A letter of commendation was given to him by NAHCO for the praiseworthy act.

Ibrahim joined NAHCO in 2006 and has ever since been working in operations Division, Ramp Services. He hails from Kogi State and is married with four children.