Ibukun Awosika, the renowned businesswoman and former Chairperson of First Bank of Nigeria, has shared a personal insight into her marriage, revealing that she earned more than her husband, Abiodun Awosika, for the first 13 years of their union.
Speaking during a recent engagement at Celebration Church, Awosika used her own experience to challenge societal norms about money and marriage.
She explained that for over a decade, while she built her manufacturing business and secured lucrative contracts, her husband was a diligent petroleum engineer in the public sector with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Rather than allowing this income disparity to create friction or ego battles, the couple chose to view their finances as a collective tool for growth.
Awosika described her husband as “the most responsible and diligent man” she knows, crediting his prudence and organizational skills for keeping the family stable even when her own income fluctuated between small jobs and big breaks.
“We would never go broke in my family because he is the most prudent and organized human being.
“Me, I’m a risk-taker, but he is an organized and structured human being, so we would never go hungry because he would make sure of that,” she told the congregation.
The dynamic shifted after 13 years when the federal government, under President Olusegun Obasanjo, allocated marginal oil fields to indigenous companies.
Awosika recounted how her husband and his friends applied, leveraging his expertise as a “smart petroleum engineer.” He was successful, and from that point on, their financial landscape changed significantly.
Awosika emphasized that because she had supported him without reservation during the years she earned more, she was able to “reap big” when his breakthrough finally came.
She urged couples, particularly women, to stop making money a source of conflict and instead see it as a resource to be managed as a team.
“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,” she advised.
The couple, who married in 1990, have three children and are widely regarded as a model of a successful, faith-based partnership in the Nigerian business community.
