How we sustained our marriage despite earning more than my husband for 13 years - Ibukun Awosika

How we sustained our marriage despite earning more than my husband for 13 years - Ibukun Awosika

Ibukun Awosika, former chairperson of First Bank Nigeria,
has recalled how she and her husband Abiodun navigated the first 13 years of
their marriage despite a significant disparity in their incomes.

 

Speaking during a preaching engagement at Celebration
Church, Awosika revealed that for over a decade, she was earning more than her
husband while he diligently built his career in the public sector.

 

She said rather than allowing the income gap to create
friction, they chose to view it as a foundation for mutual growth and teamwork.

 

Awosika detailed how she was building her manufacturing
business, which fluctuated between small contracts and lucrative deals. She
said at the same time, her husband worked as a petroleum engineer with the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

 

 

She praised his character, describing him as “the most
responsible and diligent man” she knows, whose prudence and organisational
skills provided a stable anchor for their family.

 

“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 for 13 years, she supported her husband’s career
ambitions as he held onto a personal 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 women not to allow money become a source of
conflict in marriage, describing it as a tool couples can use to build and grow
together.

 

“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.”

 

Ibukun married Abiodun in 1990, and they have three
children.

Source: How we sustained our marriage despite earning more than my husband for 13 years - Ibukun Awosika

 - NigerianEye
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