A junior ranking officer in Nigerian Air Force was on Thursday promoted by two ranks after returning Sh4.1 million ($41,000) earlier in the week which was dropped by a passenger.
Aircraftman Umar Bashir was manning Kano International Airport when an unidentified passanger dropped the money before he recovered and surrendered it to authorities.
In a rare event the has excited social media users across the world, Umar was honoured by Nigeria by being promoted to the rank of Corporal.
Under Nigerian military doctrines, one takes close to a decade before gets such a promotion. President Muhammad Buhari ordered for his promotion due to his honesty.
At Thursday's event where he was honoured, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar said Mr Umar 'displayed an uncommon act of integrity by returning the money to the owner'.
“We hold Umar in high esteem in the Nigerian Air Force,” the air chief said.
In a remark earlier, the Commander of the National Air Defence Corps, Ikeja, Bashiru Mamman, had said Mr Umar displayed a rare show of honesty and integrity when he found and returned the money.
He thanked the CAS for considering Umar for an award, saying that it was gratifying and would encourage other airmen to exhibit such honesty.
Nigeria is a close partner of Kenya Defense Forces in military cooperation. The two forces have often worked together through benchmarking.
Early this month, Nigerian war commanders were in Department of Defense headquarters in Nairobi where they discussed issues to do with combating terrorism.
While KDF is struggling to contain Al-Shabaab militants from the neighbouring Somalia, Nigeria forces are also facing Boko Haram menace.