Na’ima Usaini Yusuf and her classmate, Righteous Samuel Genesis, of Government Secondary School (GSS), Bukuru, Jos South LGA of Plateau State, have explained why they returned N250,000 they found on their school’s premises.
The students found the money during break time and took it to their teacher because “it is morally wrong to hide money that is not ours,” according to them.
While narrating why they returned the money, Na’ima said, “When we found the money, it didn’t occur to me that we should spend it because it wasn’t ours. I told my friend that we should look for the owner through the school.
“My friend quickly responded that it is forbidden to share the money because it wasn’t from our sweat. That was why we returned the money to one of our teachers.”
While responding on her thought to return the money, Righteous said, “I felt we should not spend the money because my parents always teach me that whenever I find something on the ground I should look for people around and give it to them to look for the owner. I know that it is not good to spend what doesn’t belong to me. I also believe that whatever is not mine is not mine and will never be mine.”
Ezekiel Yarima, the teacher who the students returned the money to, said, “I was surprised to see them returning a huge amount of money and asking me to look for the owner. When they brought the money, I was so happy. I started asking who lost money since it was found within the school premises. Fortunately, the owner of the money was a teacher. He explained to me beyond reasonable doubt and I became convinced that the money was his. I asked him to come with me to my office where I handed the money back to him.”