Let me share something about integrity.

If you want to go far in life, make integrity your currency.
But first, be certain that it is the currency with which you want to trade, no matter what. Because integrity is not a short-term goal; it is a commitment to partner with honesty for life.

I kid you not when I say that integrity will cost you. Sometimes, e go pain gan!

I tell you, my integrity has been tested in the last six months.
That is why even though God has said that he will not let me be tempted beyond what I can bear, I often pray that he shouldn’t let it be.

The first time, I was broke. Like the broken branch of a fallen tree. As I was praying for some cash, I got a bank alert. 68,000 naira had been paid into my account. I wasn’t expecting any payments and it was such an odd sum.

Was this a miracle? Then I wondered if it was a payment error. Because a few years ago, I got 10,000 naira credit alert, a deposit made by mistake. I returned it.
While I was musing, an old acquaintance called to say that she’d paid in some money into my account in error.

E pain me!
But integrity doesn’t keep what it hasn’t earned or been willingly given. Of course, I returned it.

The second time was a couple of weeks ago. Again, I was broke. Broker than a chicken crushed by a vehicle in the middle of the road. ???

I was in the living room, staring at my Wall of Wishes; I wondered how I could afford a new HP laptop priced at 200 thousand naira.

Then I got up from the couch I’d been sitting on and said a little prayer for provision. Almost immediately, my phone buzzed. I looked down at the screen.

CREDIT ALERT!

I didn’t even open it. I began to sing and dance, straight up!

? I don get ALAT Goduwin! ?
I say, I don get ALAT, Goduwin! ?

Then I opened the message.

Previous credit balance: 173.69 naira.

Current balance : 311,173.69 naira.
?

The devil is a Satan!

Who was my benefactor? Why 311k and not 315? Was this another payment error? Was my laptop dream coming true?
I waited and waited and waited for someone to call and claim their money. Nothing.

Five hours later, I got the phone call.
Dear madam, the money you’re dancing for is not your own. Godu no win anything. Please, return immediately.

Chai! Chayiiiiiii!
I’m not crying….my neighbour is frying onion juice. ??

Do you still want to go far in life, to be known for and taken at your word?

Because:

You’ll be late for work, but integrity will keep you in that one lane of traffic, instead of forming a new line.
I have been on that one lane.

You’ll put in your bid for a government contract, asking for 10 million naira to do the job. But the contract facilitator will put in 60 million naira and ask you to pay the excess fifty million into her personal account.
When integrity is your currency, you’ll walk away from such a deal.
I have walked away.

When your colleague at work is coming late to work, stealing office supplies and padding the books.

When integrity is your currency, you’ll understand that this isn’t the time to mind your business.
In fact, you’ll know that you’re an entrepreneur in your boss’s business. So, you’ll warn your coworker and if he persists, you’ll report him and he’ll be suspended or fired. I have reported.

Others will call you a snitch, aproko, holy-holy, destiny destroyer, etc. But you’ll hug your integrity tight and do what’s right.

When you’re a person of integrity, you’ll buy stuff on credit, borrow money and make sure that you pay back and on time!

A person of integrity will not cheat in an exam, whether by spying on someone’s answer sheet, asking for the answer, carrying chips, or paying a mercenary to write the exam.

All these and more.
So, ask yourself – who am I when I think nobody is watching?

Paul the Evangelist said a long time ago:

“Take the pains to do what’s right, not just in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of man.”

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija