Saving for a rainy day

By Chimezie Agwu

Saving for a rainy day is a term used to imply saving money for the future. Does it come easy? Not at all. It requires strong will and self-denial to be able to put something aside for tomorrow. One of the lessons which COVID-19 pandemic must have taught a lot of people is the need to save money.

When I was in the college, there was a small box which was hung conspicuously on the wall of the main school block along the passage. It bore the inscription S.D.F meaning (Self-Denial Fund). Students were encouraged to drop coins in the box from their weekly pocket money of one shilling per student. 

The money collected over a period was sent to the needy through various registered organisations in the country. By this practice, the students were taught acts of charity and the need to save money was inculcated into them.

Some carpenters at times construct small wooden boxes with a small opening at the top, for dropping in money for saving.  It is known as “kolo” among the Yorubas. The boxes are supplied to some market women for sale to interested members of the public. The ceramic industries also mould similar objects for saving money. The devices are usually opened at festive occasions like Christmas, Easter or at ‘Ileya’ when the owners access reasonable sums of money for their needs.

A person should form the habit of saving money right from the outset.  It is wrong to think that one can only save money only when one earns a fat salary. The truth is that if one cannot put something aside when one’s salary is N30,000.00 a month, one cannot make it if even they are paid N500,000.00 a month.  Each kobo will always be marked out for something until there is nothing left to be saved.

The secret of saving money lies mainly in cutting one’s coat according to ones clothes and being contented with whatever God has blessed one with.

To create an awareness in the minds of people especially the young ones, the International Savings Bank Institute set aside the 31st day of October of every year as the World Thrift Day. The day is meant to create wider awareness in the minds of people the world over of the essence of thrift.  It is also to make people recognise savings as an important means of capital formation for development.

It will be recalled that in the early 1970s and 80s, the Federal Savings Bank (now merged with another bank) used to observe the World Thrift Day by issuing of World-Thrift-Day posters and handbills to their customers and members of the public. There were also publicity campaigns on the radio, television and the press. Visits to some schools and issuing of souvenirs to young customers were carried out.

In a similar development, banks observe the World Savings Day (WSD) with sensitisation programme for both primary and secondary school students across the country to stress the need for Nigerian students to cultivate the habit of growing their finances through regular savings.

Some people may wonder why there is so much emphasis on saving. The vicissitudes of life and the unpredictability of the future require that a person be on the alert “in case of any eventuality eventuates” (my apologies to the late Dr. K.O. Mbadiwe) at any time in one’s existence. When a person who is in dire straits, goes to a close friend or relation to raise a loan of about N100,000.00 and he is asked how much he already had on hand, he would stand a better chance of getting help if he already had some tangible amount in his account than when he indicates a nil situation. That is the essence of saving.  It gives one a stamp of respectability as it boosts one’s ego and enhances self-esteem.

The quest for bulk money has given rise to different forms of saving money. There is ‘esusu’ by which a certain number of people agree to contribute equally a large sum of money to be given to one person at the end of one month while different persons take their turns to collect huge sums of money at subsequent months. The snag in this arrangement is that at times one person may feel reluctant to contribute for others   after collecting the contributions from other members.

There is another form of saving known in local parlance as ‘ajo’.  It is practised mainly by market women and other traders.  The ‘alajo’ who may be either man or woman, goes round on daily routine to collect money from interested traders according to the capability of each trader. At the end of each month, when he is making repayment to his clients, he deducts one-day contribution from the total amount contributed by each person for his services. There have been no reports about ‘alajo’ absconding or misappropriating the money he collected. That perhaps accounts for the high patronage that ‘ajo’ enjoys in markets.

The urge to make quick money to become rich overnight has often driven many people into crimes, or into phoney business deals that leave them poorer and helpless in the hands of scammers. For example, the operators of Ponzi schemes are known to have defrauded many Nigerians of billions of naira. Painfully, many are still showing interest in the fake bank.

The saying that money does not grow on trees is an invaluable piece of advice. Money is wasted when it is not invested wisely, or when it is thrown into gambling or squandered in merriment. The interest accruable on money saved in a mainstream bank may not be much but the depositor is guaranteed security and peace of mind. The slogan of the defunct Federal Savings Bank always holds good, ‘Save for the rainy day.  Savings make sense”.

For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi:  0909 041 9057; [email protected]