Allison Ayida was a leading civil servant in Nigeria during the early years after independence and during the civil war. As the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Development he was instrumental in shaping Nigeria's post civil war economy. Later in life he was on the boards of several companies and chaired a Nigeria bank. His autobiography sheds light on a generation of public servants and development economists over a period of four decades, which saw dramatic changes in the practice and politics of economics, and in the local and international environments.