Ex-Hawker Who Fed His Entire Sausage Stock To Prisoners Gets Rewarded For His Kindness

Luck has smiled on 27-year-old Ugochukwu Ibere, whose story of benevolence went viral last year when he gave out all the sausages he was hawking to prison inmates being driven to a destination along Marina, Lagos, as Rite Foods Limited opened a shop stocked with Bigi drinks and cartons of sausage rolls for him.

Ibere’s act of kindness was discovered by Mrs Adenike Ajitena who sighted him during a traffic jam giving out all his wares to the outstretched arms of the inmates.

Speaking at the opening of the shop, Rite Foods Managing Director, Mr. Seleem Adegunwa, represented by Mr Adesewo Joseph, Regional Sales Manager, Lagos, said the company decided to reward Ugochukwu for giving out  the little he had to help humanity.

“ This gesture is part of our Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR.   Rite Foods Limited is opening a beautifully branded shop, painted, branded with a signage of his business name  ‘Ugochukwu Ibere Stores.’ And   the company is further starting him up in his business with tools such as deep freezer, generator, stabilizer, free 100 cartons of sausages and free 100 cases of drinks. This is in  addition to paying the rent of the shop for two years”, Adegunwa said.

Speaking earlier about his experience after the story broke, last year, the Lagos hero, as he was tagged  then, said, “A few years ago I worked as an apprentice in a cosmetics shop. I was supposed to  receive a payment at the end of my term. But I was warned by  other employees that the owner would find a reason not to pay me. He’d always invented reasons to fire his boys right before their payment.

“So I made the decision to quit. But when I told him, he dragged me to the police. He told them lies about me. He told them I’d stolen so much money. And they tortured me. They tied my hands and legs and they hung me from the ceiling. They beat me. I went deaf from all the slaps.

“ For ten days I was given no food. My fellow prisoners would share little bits of their meals.