Airport Cab Driver Returns $ 2, 400 to Passenger

Oluchi Chibuzor

A driver of the Airport Car Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, Mr. Adeniyi Olayinka, has returned the sum of $2, 400 and an international passport to the owner after it was left in his car.

The driver, who has worked at the airport for 15 years, told journalist at the ACHAN Secretariat in Lagos wednesday, that he did not think twice in returning the parcel back to the owner.

Olayinka added that he discovered the items in an envelope left behind by a passenger on the back seat of the car after he dropped the passenger at his destination in Ibese Ikorodu.

“It never crossed my mind to covert another person’s belonging because it would put another family in sorrow, and it is against the orientation given to every member of ACHAN at the airport.

“At about 1.30 a.m. last Monday, I met this passenger on arrival at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. I negotiated with him and we agreed at N6,000 to transport him to his destination in
Ikorodu.”

“Though it could be tempting for some people to see such money and pocket it, especially when their income is very poor, but it would create sorrow in another family, and so such idea is against the orientation we are given at ACHAN by our leaders,” he said.

Explaining how he realised the item in his car, he said no sooner he arrived and parked his car at the airport, “I discovered that an envelope had been left behind on the back seat of my car. I picked the envelope and opened it.

“What I saw was his International Passport; I looked further into the envelope and I discovered there was another white envelope inside. I opened it, only to discover that something was wrapped in it. When I removed the wrapper, I discovered it contained new notes of United States $100 denomination. I counted them and the money was $2,400.”

Commenting on the ‘noble’ act, the passenger, Dele Ayeni, said that was the advantage of taking cabs from registered point at airports as there are still good people in the country.

According to him, “When I arrived in Lagos from Cairo, Egypt on July 29, 2019, at about 1:30 a.m., my intention was to call an Uber operator to take me home, but as I was coming out of the terminal, I met this polite driver who agreed to take me to my destination at Ikorodu at an agreed price of N6, 000.”