Some years ago, while I was Dep. Governor in charge of Financial System Stability @cenbank, a very big politician from northern Nigeria told me: "Dr. Moghalu, I first got to know much about you listening to some of 'my people' discussing you in a village deep in the North I'm

sure you've never been to and may never get to", he said. "I learnt two things about you from these men who were in the forex and Bureau de Change business" (over which I exercised final licensing authority, & other functions such as approving the appointments of board chairmen

and directors of banks, and regulating and supervising a banking system with 24 commercial banks, 57 subsidies in 31 countries and assets of over $20 billion, 100 finance houses, 900 microfinance banks, and 3,000 BDCs). "These mallams said, one, the man will never ask for bribe

or take money to do his job; two, that you travel a lot on duty! But they said that before you travel out of the country, you will remain in the office till midnight and clear every file on your table requiring a decision, then you will issue a handover announcement on which of

your colleague deputy governors will temporarily handle your portfolio until you return". As my shock at this level of knowledge of working patterns showed on my face, the big politician, "The Chairman" (he was the cbairman of one of the two big political parties) had a hearty

laugh at my surprise. "So you see, my good Dr. Moghalu, there is nothing hidden under the sun, and the good or the evil we do will live after us". I remember this story because I just recalled it to my mother in a conservation to mark her 85th birthday. She was emotional.

"God bless you my beloved son" she said. "I thank my God that you have walked in the footsteps of your late father my dear husband. Please never depart from that path". I promised her that I won't. Now I am remembering my father Isaac Moghalu, a proud civil servant and former

Nigerian Foreign Service Officer in his hey days from 1961 to his retirement in 1984. "35 years in the Civil Service" he would often brag, beating his chest. "And I never took a bribe". Life. Legacies. Teach your children right and wrong, and when they grow, they won't forget.