A former chairperson of First Bank of Nigeria, Ibukun Awosika, has recounted how she and her husband, Abiodun, navigated the first 13 years of their marriage despite earning at different levels.

Awosika spoke during a preaching engagement at Celebration Church, where she said she earned more than her husband for over a decade while he built his career in the public sector.

She said they refused to allow the income gap to create tension at home, adding that they worked as a team while she grew her manufacturing business and her husband worked as a petroleum engineer with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Describing her husband as dependable and disciplined, she said his prudence and organisational skills helped keep their family stable.

“The other thing I can say to the girls is this: when I say make the money of no consequence in your home, I am speaking from personal experience,” he said.

“When we got married, I was a businesswoman running a manufacturing company and getting contracts. Some days, they were small contracts; other days, I could get a big break and make a lot of money. Based on who I was, I had that possibility.

“My husband was a professional petroleum engineer working in the oil and gas sector in the public sector, he was at NNPC. One thing about him is that he is the most responsible and diligent man I know.

“We would never go broke in my family, it is because he is the most prudent and organised human being. That is just the truth. Me, I’m a risk taker, but he is an organised and structured human being, so we would never go hungry because he would make sure of that.”

She said she supported her husband’s career plans during that period, noting that he held onto a promise from the Bible, Amos 9:13, believing his time would come.

“For 13 years, we lived our lives — I kept building my business successfully, and he kept building his career. In our church, we pick promises from Scripture, and for a long time, my husband kept holding onto the promise of Amos 9:13. I did not pay much attention to it, but in my spirit, I always believed he would be rewarded for the support of everything I did,” she added.

“Thirteen years later, when President Obasanjo decided to allocate smaller oil fields to Nigerians and asked people to apply, my husband and a few of his friends applied.

“A smart petroleum engineer married to a business-minded wife means two minds working together. He is sharp and fantastic at his job. In the end, he got his oil field. From that day till now, things changed.”

Awosika urged couples not to allow money become a source of conflict in their marriage, describing it as a tool for growth and shared progress.

“Let me now tell you the real lesson. Whatever way I behaved in the thirteen years before, I was about to reap my reward, and I have reaped them big,” she added.

“So when I say do not make money an issue in your home, I mean it. Money is a tool. Use it to achieve things together, whether it comes from the man or the woman. One plus one is one. It is not mathematics.

“You haven’t found a team until you find a team of a husband and a wife who understand who they are in Christ and work together as one. They will rule the world and do greater and mightier things.”

The mother of three married Abiodun in 1990.