By Magnus Eze
It was a soul-searching day for professional women in Abuja, as the Federal Capital Territory Chapter of Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria (SWAN) assembled its members and associates to explore ways in which families could readjust their budgets so as to survive the painful effects of recession.
The seminar on the theme, “Strategies for survival in a recovering economy,” came as government recently announced the nation’s exit from recession.
They assembled a crop of experts including former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof Maurice Iwu, Dr. Deji Awobotu and Dr. Ada Muo, who in their various submissions said surviving recession is largely dependent on financial planning and healthy lifestyles.
The resource persons believed that the strategies enunciated, if adopted by Nigerians, could help them survive the crushing effects of the economic downturn while awaiting full benefits of the positive marks recorded in the economy in the last two quarters.
Dr. Muo, who spoke on the topic “Strategies for surviving during economic crunch” urged women to be more prudent and avoid frivolous spending.
She said such feminine habits as following the latest fashion trends, buying on credit and the lure of online shopping could leave professional women with zero income at the end of the month.
According to the Lagos State University lecturer, “the first and most important thing is to manage what you have; be prudent. You don’t really have to spend because you have money; think about tomorrow, ‘what can’t I save? Secondly, develop some plans for yourself; you must have short term plan; medium term and long term plans. What this means is that you must think of what to do to earn income, what skills, knowledge and attitude do you have. And even as you’re thinking about the moment, also think of what you can do in six months, one year to five years. That is medium and long terms.”
She also advised women to always develop themselves because the knowledge they have today could become obsolete tomorrow and render them unproductive.
The don further enjoined professional women to embrace mentorship, saying this sort of helping others will engender economic activities and invariably empower those mentored.
Also, Prof Iwu charged women to seek alternatives to synthetic drugs and imbibe the habit of using food as medicine.
He posited that food taken at the right time and the right proportion has the capacity to prevent illness that could deplete one’s resources.
He noted that Nigeria is blessed with herbs and medicinal plants that could be used to ensure healthy living.
In his presentation on the role of budgeting in a recovering economy, Dr. Awobotu said the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the present administration must ensure macroeconomic stability, food security, energy sufficiency and rapid industrialisation with focus on small and medium scale enterprises.
“The strengthening of small scale businesses and the promotion of industrialization are priorities for economic recovery. Nigeria’s manufacturing sector has been particularly vulnerable to the stagnant economic conditions,” he stated.
Chairperson of SWAN Abuja, Mrs. Ijeoma Ugwunebo said the seminar was one in the series of capacity building programmes of designed for their members.
She noted that women play important role in managing family economy as home-makers and assured that her administration would continue to churn out creative activities for the benefit of their members and the society at large.