I Usually Don’t Write About This Sort Of Things But… -By Joe Dauda

I just returned from the bank where I went to do a transaction at the FX section. While waiting to be attended to, a lady arrived and began to speak with banker behind the desk. It wasn’t her turn because I and some other customers were waiting. You might say our ears became tuned to her channel to know why she would shunt and not bother to wait for her turn.

It turned out that the lady was saying something very strange.

“Did you guys experience a mix up yesterday?”

What an odd question, I thought to myself.

The banker in charge of the FX section — a lady also — was apparently as confused by the question as we all were.

But before we could all start looking at Ms Shunt oddly and wondering what in the world she was talking about, here is what she said:

“I received dollars here yesterday and was overpaid with one hundred dollars.”

We immediately understood what her “shunt” was all about and began to commend her. The banker lady began to thank God publicly. She began to confess (under the torrent of overwhelming relief she felt) how she had been worried and praying about a hundred dollars she couldn’t account for.

$100 was almost N70k yesterday and this mistake took place yesterday when the value of the dollar to the naira was just descending from its peak of N707 last week.

To cut the story short, I thought Ms Shunt looked like an Igbo lady and asked to confirm. She affirmed she was Igbo and I couldn’t help thinking what some Nigerians love to say about Igbos when it comes to money. People say Igbos love money. Everybody works for money and is interested in money but the Igbos are denigrated by being accused of loving money — as if others have liquid hatred for money. Yet here was a young Igbo lady returning the equivalent of approximately N70k in dollars to a bank that had overpaid her.

The lesson?

People are individuals.

Cease from stereotyping.

Stop saying Hausa people are XYZ
Stop saying Yoruba people are YZX
Stop saying Igbo people are ZXY.

Judge every human being you interact with on the basis of their character — not their religion, or ethnic background, or height, or weight, or color, or gender, or even class. Anything less than this objective assessment is wrong and qualifies you as a bigot.

The problem with lumping people in a basket is that it can cause you to be terribly unfair to someone innocent. What if this lady (Ms Shunt) had applied for a job in a company owned by a bigot? That bigot may have denied her employment because she is Igbo, not knowing he was denying himself an honest young worker who apparently respects herself, fears God, cares about people, and has values.

Thank God that, in spite of the media narrative, not all Nigerians are dishonest. Some people, like Ms Shunt, will not take what does not belong to them, even if you forced it into their hands.

Abeg 3 Gbosa for Ms Shunt!