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  • Business - Economy
  • Updated: November 10, 2020

Two Reasons CBN Fought Against Removal Of Arabic Words On Naira

Two Reasons CBN Fought Against Removal Of Arabic Words On Na

There's a battle over the Islamic inscription on Nigeria's naira currency, which has led to a lawsuit against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The CBN was sued to court to force the removal of the Ajami (Arabic) statement which is boldly written on the NGN1000 note.

According to the applicant, Lagos-based lawyer, Malcolm Omirhobo, the Arabic words portrayed Nigeria as an Islamic country, which the Nigerian Constitution stipulates against. Omirhobo said the constitution provides that no religion will be recognised as an official religion, yet the naira note carries Islamic print.

Nigeria is a multi-religious state, and Section 10 of the Constitution reads, “The government of the Federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as state religion.” In respect to this, Omirhobo dragged the CBN to court to demand CBN stop printing of the notes carrying the Islamic words.

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He prayed that the court will prevent CBN from “further approving, printing and issuing naira notes with Arabic inscriptions, bearing in mind that Nigeria is a secular state”. Omirhobo also demanded that the court order CBN to use one of Nigeria's three main indigenous languages; Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo.

CBN Defend Decision: Too Expensive To Change

In its defence of the Arabic words, CBN gave several reasons, one of which was that stopping circulation, changing the naira notes or printing new naira notes would come at an extra cost to the Nigerian government.

It was learnt that the change of currency or editing the naira note won't come cheap. The CBN told the Federal High Court that it would cost the country a “colossal sum of money” while defending the decision to Justice Mohammed Liman.

Arabic Words Doesn't Imply Islamic Country

The CBN also ruled out the claim that the Arabic statement on the naira notes portray Nigeria as an Islamic country. The Apex body argued that the Ajami inscription has been a part of Nigeria since the colonial era, and do not imply "Arabic is an official language in Nigeria."

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“The inscriptions on the country’s currencies do not and at no time have they threatened the secular statehood of the nation, nor have they violated the Constitution of Nigeria, as every design and inscription was finalised with the approval of the relevant government bodies.”

CBN further added that, “The naira notes retained the inscriptions with Ajami since 1973 when the name of the Nigerian currency was changed to naira from pounds. 

"The Ajami was inscribed on the country’s currency by the colonialists to aid those without Western education in certain parts of the country, who, back then, constituted a larger part of the populace.

“The Ajami is not a symbol or mark of Islam but an inscription to aid the populace uneducated in Western education in ease of trade,” CBN said.

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