only have his bottle of water and may not take anything at all.
So we had to beg him for me to be able to survive as head of state. When it comes to that, I can assure you he was very frugal and very, very careful with finances. And we had to live within our means. Every kobo was accounted for. And he(Awolowo) really kept a meticulous attention to details as far as finances were concerned. And he would not brook any break from the correct procedure as far as our finance was concerned. And as a result of that, we were able to carry out little developments that we could carry out at that time.
Particularly we were able to prosecute the Nigeria's Civil War without borrowing a kobo from anywhere. He left Nigeria in very good financial health. He ensured that we didn't live the next generation with unnecessary debt. He made sure that sufficient money was provided for all sections of the government activities, for the various ministries. We discussed our budget usually within the council, with every member of the council, both military and civilian, as well as the permanent secretaries that were there.
And we argued those issues in a way that you would never believe. You would come and you would think it was a debating society.
You do not know who is the leader and who is the led, because everybody that is in that council had the right to be able to express honest and sincere views on the issue being discussed. And I can assure you we listened just to the best advice. We listened to all the debates and in the end I sifted all the advice and suggestions given.
I was given that right to decide which of the various options provided that I should recommended for the acceptance of the government. And by the time one had done that and you had the good old man's(Awolowo) full support of that particular financial decision, then of course it is carried out. And as a result of that, we were able to ensure that we continued to live within our means during all the period that he was part of my government until he decided to return to politics after I had announced that we are going to return to politics in 1974 or 76. So he wanted to go and have a bit of a rest and start organizing for his future political activity. But he was really a man of great experience and great wisdom. And he gave us certainly his total loyalty and support and advice in order to get it right in many areas. And for which I would remain ever grateful.”~Gen.Yakubu Gowon
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