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Every country needs heroes or men and women of conviction. Unfortunately, such people as well as certain good values are in short supply in Nigeria today. This is why the rare act of a Superintendent of Police (SP), Daniel Amah, deserves commendations from well-meaning Nigerians. Amah, an indigene of Plateau State and Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Bompai Kano, was said to have rejected a bribe of $200,000 offered to him by some criminally-minded people to cover up a criminal case.
The case involved one Mr. Ali Zaki, a bureau de change operator, who had allegedly connived with some criminals to rob a Nigerian an amount worth $750,000. This money could change the life of Amah forever. But he chose to return it. This is a good testimonial for the Nigeria Police Force and has made the DPO some sort of a poster boy of the institution. In appreciation of this act of integrity, President Muhammadu Buhari, earlier this month, honoured Amah with a Public Service Integrity Award for displaying exceptional courage and integrity in the discharge of his duties. The President congratulated him and called on other Nigerian public office-holders to emulate him. According to him, we need to kill corruption for Nigeria to move forward.
Earlier in August this year, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, had presented a certificate of award to Amah. The IGP hailed him for his sound professionalism which led to the arrest of Zaki and his accomplices, which reportedly included some police officers. Generally, there are many Nigerians who are known to be good and honest. In November last year, President Buhari had similarly honoured three Nigerians who exhibited exemplary acts of honesty and integrity. These Nigerians were two civil servants, Muhammad Ahmad and Nelson Okoronkwo and a Nigerian PhD student in Japan, Ikenna Nweke. Ahmad, an Assistant Commander of Narcotics at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), reportedly recovered and declared to the agency the sum of $24,500 bribe offered him by a drug baron to compromise an investigation of 28kg of cocaine worth billions of naira.
On his part, Okoronkwo, a member of staff of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, was said to have consistently exhibited acts of integrity in different ministries where he had worked. For instance, he was said to be instrumental to the recovery of billions of naira from fertilizer racketeers with collaborators in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. As the Committee Chairman on Illegal Recruitment, he also reportedly helped to facilitate the detection and removal of over 3,000 fake employees from the service of the Ministry of Information and Culture. The exposure of corrupt practices which led to Ogoni clean-up investigation in the Federal Ministry of Environment was also attributed to him. Nweke, who is from Imo State, found and returned a wallet containing a large sum of money and some other valuables to the Japanese Police. He also rejected 10 per cent of the value of the money offered to him as a reward for returning the money. Buhari, who congratulated the awardees on their exemplary behaviour, specifically declared Nweke an icon and a beacon for our youths. “He has done Nigeria proud in faraway Japan by displaying traditional Nigerian values of honesty and integrity,” the President said.
When he launched the National Ethics and Integrity Policy in September 2020, Buhari had expressed delight that “some public officers continue to demonstrate the core values of ethics, integrity and patriotism, and have been identified for their sterling anti-corruption disposition in their workplaces.” Nevertheless, the actions of a few corrupt individuals have tended to smear the image of the country in the comity of nations. It is such that in corruption perception index by Transparency International, Nigeria has consistently scored very low marks. Corruption is worse in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government where civil servants commit all sorts of corrupt practices such as budget padding, bribery and illegal recruitment to the detriment of the national revenue. It is worst in the Nigeria Police Force, adjudged the most corrupt institution in Nigeria.
This is why the award for Amah is fit and proper. It encourages others to know that integrity pays. Other police personnel should borrow a leaf from him. They should realise that everything is not about money. Many of our youths who are into one crime or the other because of money should also emulate him. Nigerians generally should celebrate him. Beyond the award, government should do some other things for him. Authorities of the Nigeria Police should promote him because he helped in no small measure to burnish the bad image of the institution. Companies could use him as a brand icon. In all, we urge him never to waiver in his good deeds because integrity matters.
