ABSTRACT
Ibrahim Babangida administration introduced the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in July 1986 within this context. Massive devaluation of the naira, which would lead to the attainment of what was described, as a market-determined realistic exchange rate for currency constitutes the focal point of SAP. This is based on the International Financial Institutions argument that the fundamental cause of Nigeria's economic crisis centers around the overvaluation of the naira, which introduced severe distortions into the country's economy. One of the aims of SAP was to end import dependency and diversify the productive base of the economy through the resuscitation of the manufacturing sector. The major issue is not "whether adjustment affected the level of spending; but whether adjustment affected the way available resources were being allocated within the social sector". The central position women occupy in the home made them more negatively affected by SAP because they were placed in the difficult position of devising various survival strategies for the household.
