Business leader and first female chairperson of First Bank of Nigeria, Ibukun Awosika, has advised couples not to allow money to become a source of conflict in their homes, stressing that mutual understanding and unity outweigh financial status.

Awosika spoke during a sermon at Celebration Church International, in a message shared on Instagram by Emmanuel Iren. Drawing from personal experience, she explained how her personality and financial outlook complemented that of her husband, resulting in stability at home.

“When I say make the money of no consequence in your home, I’m speaking from personal experience,” she said.

Describing herself as a risk-taker, Awosika noted that she was running a manufacturing company at the time, while her husband, a petroleum engineer known for his prudence, worked in the public sector of the oil and gas industry.

“When we got married, I as a business person running a manufacturing company, getting contracts, I could get any kind of contract. My husband was a petroleum engineer working in oil and gas at that point, but working in oil and gas in public sector,” she said.

Now if we never go broke in my family because my husband is the most prudent human being in this world, that’s just the truth. Me, I’m a risk taker, so I can take risks, but he’s a prudent, organised human being. We will never be hungry because he will make sure that we’re not”, she continued.

She said they held on to a biblical promise for years, citing Amos 9:13.

“Have you read Amos 9? Go to 9.13. We kept picking this promise for a long time because in our church, we pick promises.”

Their unity and teamwork led to success, with her husband securing an oil field 13 years into their marriage.

“13 years after, they took all the smaller oil fields from the big oil majors and asked Nigerians to apply. Now, if you’re a smart petroleum engineer married to a business-minded wife, the two minds will work together like you can do this and all of that, and my husband is sharp and fantastic at his job.

“So anyway, he and a few of his friends applied. At the end, he got his field, and from that day till now, please go and price furniture and price oil. Let me now tell you the real lesson.

“Whatever way I behaved in the 13 years before, I was about to reap my reward in the years after, and I have reaped them big”, she said.

She urged couples to see money as a tool, not a source of conflict, and emphasised the importance of unity in marriage, citing her own experience.

“So when I say to you, do not make money an issue in your home. It’s a tool. Use it to achieve the things that you can do together. Whether it’s on the side of the man, on the side of the woman, one plus one is what? Is one.

“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. Nothing can stop them”, she concluded. (The Nation)

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