By John Ikani
Liberia’s President George Weah has honoured an 18-year-old motorcycle rider who found and returned $50,000 (£36,000) to a businesswoman who had lost the cash in the northeastern Nimba region.
Heritage Times had earlier reported that the teenager identified as Emmanuel Tuloe, was being mocked and threatened for returning a lost sum of $50,000 (£37,000) to a prominent businesswoman , Musu Yancy after hearing her making an appeal on radio.
Tuloe picked up the money that was wrapped in a plastic bag and gave his aunt for safe keeping before hearing Ms Yancy’s radio appeal.
The 18-year-old school dropout who has been cycling to earn a living, said his friends have been mocking him, telling him he shouldn’t have returned the money.
“They tell me I will never get rich in my lifetime, they say because I returned such an amount of money I will live and die poor,” he told the BBC.
President Weah met Emmanuel Tolue at a ceremony in the capital, Monrovia, on Monday and offered him cash and an educational scholarship.
The motorcycle rider has become a national hero in recent days for his action.
He found the money wrapped in a plastic bag and returned it after the owner, Musu Yancy, appealed on public radio for anyone finding the money to return it.
Ms Yancy appreciated the young man’s honesty with cash and goods valued at about $1,500.
The president hailed Mr Tuloe’s “exceptional sense of morality and good citizenship” as an inspiration for the youth.
The Liberian leader promised to recognise and award the young man with one of Liberia’s highest honours – the order of distinction – for his honesty.
In addition, the president gave him $10,000, as well as two new motorcycles “for you to improve your circumstances and sustain yourself financially”.
Mr Tolue, who dropped from seventh grade in school to go into motorcycling business, will also benefit from a fully-funded scholarship up to the university level.
