I found a bag of money on the street….but found the owner and returned it

Image: http://www.ikennelg.com

“I’m an okada rider (commercial motorcycle transport) in Festac, Lagos, and in my job, many things happen. But the biggest thing that’s happened to me so far on the job was a few days ago. I stopped my bike to pee by the side of the road and I found the craziest thing. My leg kicked against a black polythene bag and when I looked inside, it was cash. Without thinking, I let out a big ‘whoop’ and attracted the attention of people around. When they saw the money, they started shouting and this attracted a lot more people to us. All around, people were saying the money should be shared, etc. Seeing some dangerous looking boys around, I got a little scared, quickly jumped my bike and took off with the cash before anyone knew what I was doing.
Getting home, I dropped the bag. It was a lot of money by my standards; I didn’t count it but from what I saw, it was definitely over a million naira in cash (almost $10,000). My mind went through all the money could do for me – I was a single guy living in a makeshift wooden house built on someone’s undeveloped land. I could take care of my necessities but barely anything else. I got excited but as I thought more, my mum’s voice nagged at me. When she was alive, she was always talking about how we needed to do the right thing no matter what. Her words used to drive me crazy then and it seemed they were still driving me crazy.

Sighing, I emptied the bag, searched through the pile and saw an ID with a matching business card. Reluctantly, I called the number on it and the guy picked up. After a few questions which convinced me he was the owner of the bag, the guy thanked me profusely and came the next morning to get the bag with another ID of his. He rewarded me with twenty thousand naira (about $150) and told me to come by on Monday (it was a Saturday) so he could get me a brand new bike as a gift. I declined; I just told him I was grateful for the gift of money but it was more than enough. I didn’t need excess rewards for a good deed because I prayed someone else would be kind enough to me someday. Yes, this is how I returned money that could have done a lot for me. I was both happy and sad at the same time though – I won’t lie. The money would have done many good things for me but even greater was the feeling I got at the look in the man’s eyes when he got his money back.