New Money And The Nigerian Character
By Reuben Abati

The new naira notes (N5, N10, N20 and N50) and coins (1k and 2k) were launched officially on Wednesday, February 28. The coins are smaller, lighter and we are told, more durable: the notes are an aesthete's delight, particularly the N20 note which seems to be water-proof and stain proof. The general impression is that the new money looks like "foreign money", the N20 note has been compared to the Euro for example. There are cynics of course who insist that the new money looks like something made for a game of monopoly. But on the more positive side, the introduction of the new money has brought out both the good and bad sides of the Nigerian character. Nigerians love new things. They are excited by the smell of difference and change, and so it has been with the new notes.

By Thursday, many persons that I know were already looking for the new money frantically. It became the main subject of discussion and if you had the notes or the coins, you became a 24-hour celebrity. The notes are more popular than the coins. I have actually not seen too many people with the coins. Part of the reason is that there are few items in the market that are sold for 1k or 2k, besides the cost of goods and services is usually rounded off to the next basic figure. The assurance that the new coins are lighter is not likely to make them popular. Nigerians don't like to use coins. Consider for example, the story of a commuter in Ibadan who decided to pay his bus fare, out of mischief, with the new 2 kobo coins, hauling onto the waiting hands of the bus conductor a handful of jingling coins. The bus conductor reportedly hissed. He didn't like the coins. Not too many people are looking for the coins either. The reaction to the notes has been different.

With the new notes, Charles Soludo's CBN has tried to address and settle some political problems thrown up by the old notes. The Ajami inscription on the old N10, N20, N50 notes, which was widely regarded as an implantation of the interest of the North on the nation's currency is gone. It is now replaced with descriptions of the value of each denomination in Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo. The North may not have protested about this attempt to democratise the inscriptions on the Naira. But in addressing this, the CBN has again unwittingly thrown up yet another problem: the Wazobianisation of Nigeria, the thinking that only the three major ethnic groups make up Nigeria or that they are more important than the other 400 plus ethnic minorities.

The minority question in Nigerian politics is an old and vexed issue, and it has become, not surprisingly the subject of interest for minority groups whose languages are not reflected on the new money. But how can the CBN possibly accommodate up to 400 different tongues on the Naira? This is obviously difficult but the reading of the politics of marginalisation into something as seemingly innocuous as the design of new money, reminds us afresh, just like the Ajami, of the pluralistic, multi-ethnic nature of Nigeria and the constant need to ensure equity in majority-minority relations. It is instructive for example that the country's Constitution recognises only the three main languages spoken by the three most populous ethnic groups. Section 55 of the 1999 Constitution states as follows: "the business of the National Assembly shall be conducted in English and in Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba when adequate arrangements have been made therefor". Minorities read this portion of the Constitution and they protest about marginalisation, now they have new money in their hands which reminds them of the politics of power and population in Nigeria.

If it would be any consolation to such aggrieved minorities, the new notes bear the Nigerian flag: green-white-green. It is a good thing that no one has complained yet about the colours of the Nigerian flag for indeed, the colours are the same as the official colours of the Islamic religion. The old naira notes, when still new had a strong, pungent, suffocating smell, when they had been used and they had made the rounds from women's brassieres, to the market woman's pouch, the beggar's grip and the corner of area boy's ears, they often looked like breeding surfaces for viruses. These new notes are mild on the olfactory organs; the fragrance is mild, akin to a whiff of perfume. The notes are also shorter, more colourful and of a finer, crisp texture; the N20 note is a work of art.

But what is the matter with us? There is nothing so good that Nigerians would not try to destroy. No matter how good an idea may be or an innovation may appear, there is a crowd of crooks among us who must find a way to ridicule the idea. This is why pay phones have never worked in Nigerian communities. Where pay phones were installed, some Nigerians found a way of compromising the system to enable them make free phone calls at public expense. In more desperate situations, the pay phones were vandalised and emptied of accumulated coins! It is the fashion these days for banks in Nigeria to set up Automated Teller Machines at carefully chosen locations. But Nigerians have also found a way of beating the ATM machines.

Many banks are running up huge losses, because withdrawals made at ATM machines are not always recorded, thus creating problems of accounts reconciliation for bank managers. When you go to the market, that market woman who appears to be so nice and solicitous may be looking for an opportunity to cheat you. If you make the mistake of not checking what you are buying carefully, you could get home only to realise that you have been sold rotten oranges and tiny tubers of yam for the price of what you really wanted. It is the same when you buy anything as the traffic crawls: used recharge cards, cleverly covered with cellophane, mouldy bread, an old magazine or newspaper, passed off as the current edition...too many people trying to cheat. And I do not agree that poverty is the cause of this, it is the reflection of not just the collapse of society's moral centre, but of a return by many of our compatriots to the level of the animal as a newly found comfort zone.

On Thursday, one fellow was paraded on local television. He had been caught with packets of mint-fresh, new money (N5, N10, N20 and N50), all fake! The new money had hardly spent 24 hours outside the Central Bank. Not many people had seen it. To think that some Nigerians had already worked out plans to produce counterfeit versions of the new money is unbelievable and shocking. And by the way, the CBN had boasted that it will be difficult to forge the new notes, but still, Nigerians can't be discouraged. On Friday, something even more shocking happened. I had travelled to Abeokuta to attend an owambe party. I didn't want to miss the party because the host had been quite insistent. He had sent text messages, two weeks earlier, to announce that the witches of Abeokuta had done their worst. They finally managed to kill his beloved grandmother at the age of 93 (!). He would be forever grateful if all his friends could come to Abeokuta to help give his grandmother a befitting burial to shame the witches!

The first thing I noticed at the party which was already in full swing with two musicians shouting at each other from two ends of the open field where the event held, was the presence of a guy selling mint Naira notes. The fact that Naira notes are sold like commodities in the open market is a curious aspect of our local economy. The hawking of mint notes at parties and festivals and the additional fact that people actually exchange used notes for new ones, at a price, is a comment on the level of recklessness in our land.

As a rule at those owambe parties, the plunking and spraying of Naira notes is taken for granted. It is not for nothing that one particular dictionary describes the Yoruba as "the fun-loving people of West Africa" . To return to the Naira notes merchant, I was shocked when he brought out and displayed the new money that had just been released by the CBN: crisp, mint fresh N10, N20, and N50 notes! The new money was not yet up to 72 hours in circulation. Many Nigerians were still looking for it; the banks claim that they do not have enough to give to customers. And here was this fellow making quick business out of the sale of the notes.

There were other fellows at my table. One of them was so angry he told the boy selling the notes that if he had a gun, he would shoot him. "This is new money that government has just released, and you people are already trading with it. You can't even wait," he bellowed. But this did not stop others from patronising the Naira merchant. The boy was also not flustered. He probably has a powerful man behind him, as Godfather. One after the other people bought the new notes. The art of Naira spraying at the owambe party was about to be taken to another level. Nobody wanted to go to the dance floor clutching old notes. It was a class thing, more or less. In any case, those who went to the dance floor with old notes were pointedly ignored by the musician, who refused to sing their praises. But new money attracted special anthems, and so here we were, less than 72 hours later, with Nigeria's new Naira already been abused, pasted on sweaty foreheads, and thrown onto the floor, with dancing men and women stepping on it. I believe the same drama was enacted in all the thousands of parties that must have been held this weekend. So where does that leave the CBN's campaign against the abuse of the Naira and the search for a law under which those who do so can be sanctioned? Will such a law if it exists even make any difference? It will be at best a dead law.

What remains is to ask the question: what is the worth of a new Naira note? After the initial euphoria about the beauty of the new money, we would still have to deal with the question of value. It has been said that the coins have been introduced in order to check inflation. The only thing to be said is that the current pricing system may change. At the moment, sellers of goods and services seeking to increase cost, always move to the next convenient figure: from N5 to N10, N10 to N15, it is impossible to find any item in the market that is sold for N6 or N7 or N12. 20. Sellers of sweets and cigarettes resolve the problem by forcing you to buy two items instead of one as in two sweets for N5. This may well change.

But the notes? Too many Nigerians are worried about access to enough funds to meet their basic needs: there is so much poverty in the land and wide disparities between the rich and the poor. A Naira note that looks like a virgin at the onset of pubescence is attractive to look at, but it is better to have it in one's pocket as a store of value for meeting life's needs. There are macro-economic issues that the authorities still need to work on: to raise productivity levels, strengthen the Naira and create wealth and prosperity. It is only in the context of productivity and prosperity that a beautiful currency note can fulfil its purpose.

Robot  # 1 | 04.03.2007 00:18

New Money And The Nigerian Character ...Read the full article.

Omovudu  # 2 | 04.03.2007 03:51

Dr Abati, it was Shakespear that once wrote that "the problem is not in our stars but in us". We have an internally sequestered problem that has eaten away our values system and aiming to ground us (if it has not already done so). It makes no sense why someone will vandal electric poles and lines that are meant to bring light to his village. Can someone explain why, as I once noticed in Warri, that the very streetlights on the newly refurbishished and expanded airport road installed to provide securities have their wires dug out or the poles tripped to access the bulbs. So it is not the change in policy, good as the may seem, but a change in ourselves that would bring about our renaissance. We have issues in Nigeria and sometime one wonders whether we have not caught ourselves with the chicken and egg dilemma in the vicious cycle of leaders and followers (who is to blame). Change may be long in coming until we get a revolutionary who would have the courage of his convictions to step out of the norm and challenge with great risk to his legacy the insipid leach underneath our national skin that desires no good for our end. Will 2007 bring this change, definitely not from Atiku... with the others it remains to be seen.

denker  # 3 | 04.03.2007 07:06

New Naira notes: Sultan, Adegbite, others insist on Arabic signs * Want FG to put planned restructuring of unity schools on hold DAPO OLUFADE Sokoto Posted to the Web: Sunday, March 04, 2007 THE Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, (NSCIA) headed by the Sultan of Sokoto has rejected the new naira notes which was launched last week by President Olusegun Obasanjo on the ground that the Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes were removed and replaced with the three major Nigerian languages; Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba. The council has therefore insisted that the Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes should be restored. This was one of the resolutions of the council at the end of its meeting held in the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar after he was presented with the staff of office yesterday. The meeting which was presided by the Sultan had in attendance the Secretary General of the Council, Alhaji Lateef Adegbite and the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Alao Arisekola. But the Central Bank governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo while explaining the reasons behind the removal of Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes at the launching of the new notes said “It is pertinent to let Nigerians understand that Arabic is not one of the national languages and it was inscribed on the notes 40 years ago because the majority of people then can read it in the Northern part of the country to the detriment of their counterparts in the South.” The CBN apparently pre-empted the reactions by the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, that reasons should be offered for deleting the Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes. Soludo spoke of the need for the country to grow and move forward and for its people to get accustomed to innovations. He stressed that the removal of the Arabic inscriptions was to promote unity in diversity and was not directed at any religious or ethnic group. Apart from the restoration of Arabic inscriptions on the new naira notes, the Islamic Council also want the Federal Government to put on hold the planned restructuring of the Unity Schools in the country. The Minister of Education, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili has been in the forefront of reforms in the education sector and part of the reforms is the privatisation of Unity Schools. The cardinal objective of the Education Sector Reform, according to the minister is “the restoration of character and learning to education as foundation for creating and sustaining a good society, for nurturing the mind and for the ability to compete globally.” While further justifying the restructuring of the unity schools in the country by the Federal Government,, Ezekwesili said. “Our greatest concern is the fact that the ministry (Federal Ministry of Education) spends an inordinate amount of time and resources on these schools and constitute only 30 percent of the secondary schools in the country. Out of 6.4 million secondary school students, only 120,718 are in the unity schools. This number cannot on any account justify the disproportionate amount of staff and budget allocated to these schools. This has to be reversed. We have to do things differently as the current business model can no longer be sustained” the owners of nigeria are still much alive...!

Anon  # 4 | 04.03.2007 11:29

If it would be any consolation to such aggrieved minorities, the new notes bear the Nigerian flag: green-white-green. It is a good thing that no one has complained yet about the colours of the Nigerian flag for indeed, the colours are the same as the official colours of the Islamic religion. The old naira notes, when still new had a strong, pungent, suffocating smell, when they had been used and they had made the rounds from women's brassieres, to the market woman's pouch, the beggar's grip and the corner of area boy's ears, they often looked like breeding surfaces for viruses. These new notes are mild on the olfactory organs; the fragrance is mild, akin to a whiff of perfume. The notes are also shorter, more colourful and of a finer, crisp texture; the N20 note is a work of art. Na wa for Ruben! That's all I can say:rolleyes: :lol:

Abraxas  # 5 | 04.03.2007 12:47

THE Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, (NSCIA) headed by the Sultan of Sokoto has rejected the new naira notes which was launched last week by President Olusegun Obasanjo on the ground that the Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes were removed and replaced with the three major Nigerian languages; Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba. The council has therefore insisted that the Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes should be restored. Hi, folks! In summary: Acute Arabic colonial mentality has befallen these jokers! 2nd bass, ojare, my pipul! Overtake done overtake Overtake (O.D.O.O.) Muchas gracias. DonJuan Carlos Abraxas (III) His Eminence, Sheik Saddiq d'Fcuk of Sakkwato Khalifate, Darfur & Dubai Emirates.

Loverbwoy  # 6 | 04.03.2007 18:49

It is a good thing that no one has complained yet about the colours of the Nigerian flag for indeed, the colours are the same as the official colours of the Islamic religion. Mr abati i dont really know where you got your degree from sometimes you can be a good journalist sometimes you appear to be a quack! And why do you keep refering to the N1 and N2 coins as 1kobo and 2kobo? We are not in nigeria and we have already seen the new coins.

Fjord  # 7 | 04.03.2007 23:46

Hmn... N5 and N10 notes, N1 and N2 coins. Very impractical. Nigeria will still be a coinless economy. Soludo is brilliant; this makes it difficult to understand why the N5, and N10 denominations were retained in notes. Now, to the submission of the Sultan, Adegbite and Arisekola: you see bigoted religious m-o-r-o-n-s making pronouncements on the economy; the s-t-u-p-i-d excuses for having Arabic inscriptions on the naira have outlived their use, yet the religionists maintain that's not enough. You can always be sure for lazy people to protect their lazy interests. The Unity School nonsense needs to be sorted; and you really have to be curious why there is such a huge resistance from the North. .

abdulmumin  # 8 | 05.03.2007 10:12

There is obviously a lot of ignorance flying around here! The inscriptions on the Naira which were done in Arabic Letters were actually Hausa words and not in anyway Arabic. By the same token, when Igbo or anyother language for that matter is written in using Roman Letters, it does not make it Italian as what is written remains Igbo. The Arab cannot comprehend the inscriptions on the Naira as what is inscribed is not Arabic but Hausa using Arabic letters. This is referred to as Ajami. By the way are you folks by any chance aware that the numerals we use in our everyday lives are also referred to as Arabic Numerals? Why then does the new currency have such numbers as 10, 50 and 20? Why don't we change these numbers also because of their origin? I guess to most of our brainwashed folks, it is okay as long as oyinbos also use it! A mental slave (which incidentally is the very worst of slaves) only sees issues from the perspective of his colonisers (masters).

abdulmumin  # 9 | 05.03.2007 10:14

There is obviously a lot of ignorance flying around here! The inscriptions on the Naira which were done in Arabic Letters were actually Hausa words and not in anyway Arabic. By the same token, when Igbo or anyother language for that matter is written in using Roman Letters, it does not make it Italian as what is written remains Igbo. The Arab cannot comprehend the inscriptions on the Naira as what is inscribed is not Arabic but Hausa using Arabic letters. This is referred to as Ajami. By the way are you folks by any chance aware that the numerals we use in our everyday lives are also referred to as Arabic Numerals? Why then does the new currency have such numbers as 10, 50 and 20? Why don't we change these numbers also because of their origin? I guess to most of our brainwashed folks, it is okay as long as oyinbos also use it! A mental slave (which incidentally is the very worst of slaves) looks at issues only from the perspective of his colonial masters.

Abraxas  # 10 | 05.03.2007 11:36

=abdulmumin;159211>There is obviously a lot of ignorance flying around here! The inscriptions on the Naira which were done in Arabic Letters were actually Hausa words and not in anyway Arabic. By the same token, when Igbo or anyother language for that matter is written in using Roman Letters, it does not make it Italian as what is written remains Igbo. The Arab cannot comprehend the inscriptions on the Naira as what is inscribed is not Arabic but Hausa using Arabic letters. This is referred to as Ajami. By the way are you folks by any chance aware that the numerals we use in our everyday lives are also referred to as Arabic Numerals? Why then does the new currency have such numbers as 10, 50 and 20? Why don't we change these numbers also because of their origin? I guess to most of our brainwashed folks, it is okay as long as oyinbos also use it! A mental slave (which incidentally is the very worst of slaves) looks at issues only from the perspective of his colonial masters. Hi, Abdulmumin! So, why don't we try Greek, Russian, or Japanese alphanumeric characters instead of the Roman and Arabic ones? Irrespective of the language, don't you think the Roman alphabetical characters are more widely used worldwide: e.g. Malaysian, Fijian, Turkish, Swedish, Zulu, Norwegian, French, English, Swahili (which is actually broken Arabic), Indonesian, Twi, Hawaiian, Brokin, Afrikaans, etc? Must we use Arabic? Why Arabic at all? Why not ONLY Roman alphabetical characters? Is it not fair enough that we use a combination of Roman alphabets and Arab numerals? Should we, instead, use 100% Arab alphabets and numerals in our writing system, even when we are writing in Igbo, or Izon, or Yoruba, or Idoma, or Kanuri, or Hausa, or Gwari? In fact, would you, for example, prefer I write Hausa as <هوسا> instead of ? Nnaaaaaa, na wa for you-o. Acute Arab colo... I beg, jo, com'o't make better hamattan knack me for my medula oblongata, make I hear climate and and see temperature. Yeye dey boom! 2nd bass, ojare: Overtake done overtake Overtake! (O.D.O.O.) Kereke kereke kerekeke ji kee, Yah! Kejikeke, Yah! Kereke kereke kerekekeji keke .... Muchas gracias. Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III) His Eminence, Sheik Saddiq d'Fcuk of Sakkwato Khalifate, Darfur & Dubai Emirates.

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