On the 28th of February 2007, the President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasonjo launched the redesigned Naira Notes and new coins.The notes are the 5 Naira, 10 Naira, 20 Naira and 50 Naira denominations. This is the first phase of the launch, as the second phase would involve the higher denominations (100, 200, 500 and 1,000 Naira Notes).
One of the first things you would notice is the Map of Nigeria in the colours of the Nigerian flag on the notes, and most noticeably
, the removal of the Arabic inscription on the notes.In place of the Arabic inscriptions, we now have the three major Nigerian languages. On the fifty Naira note shown you have Hausa (Naira Hamsin), Yoruba (Àádợta Náírà) and Ibo (Naịra Iri ise).
Even though I do not see the value in this (we have well over a hundred languages in Nigeria), it can be said we have taken away the religious undertone and brought in the tribal/political one.
The president also said he hopes the law would in future allow the use of more languages. I wonder if our notes are supposed to be literature or language textbooks. Imagine if you had to print 10 or more languages on every note. I want to believe that was just a political statement as is everything else our government tells us.
I must commend the CBN Govenor, Mr. Charles Soludo for reducing the cost of printing the notes by 50% and also ensuring that 50% of the notes were printed in Nigeria.
To learn about the history of money visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money
Related: Nigeria Notes and The Arabic Inscription!
1 comment:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
Post a Comment