“Naira is our currency, it belong to our country and belongs to
the people. Buy made in Nigeria let’s grow the Naira to make it have
value”…Saminu Kanti (1991-….) Blogger, Writer, Activist.
The
Naira!
The Naira was presented on 1st January 1973 to replace
the Pound at the rate of 2 Naira = 1 Pound, and the sole issuer of the Nigerian
currency is her Central Bank, supervising its supply in the economy for price
stability. Although Nigeria was the last to abandon the Pounds, a plan was made
to re-denominate the Naira in 2008, but it was suspended.
The arrival of the Naira was welcomed with inflation,
which the CBN constantly claimed to control. In as much as coins were also
introduced as Kobo, which came in the forms of ½, 1, 5, 10 and 25 Kobo that
came in bronze and cupro-nickel, they are hardly of any worth today except for
historical collection. But in realistic terms, what can the Naira actually do?
“Whenever the grass looks greener on the other side. Stop staring,
stop comparing, stop complaining and start watering the grass you are standing
on to grow the Naira”…Saminu Kanti
Potential
I was at a conference sometime ago where I heard a
speaker say, “Knowledge is not power” like we popularly say. Hmm, I like
individuals that challenge the norm, just like the tortuous journey we had to
embark upon before finally agreeing that the earth is spherical.
Then the speaker after getting our attention simply
said “Knowledge is potential power”, what’s the point calling it power when you
don’t use it? He asked.
This quite made a huge sense to me practically.
After Nigeria gained her Independence from the British
colony in 1960, there was a natural urge to be identified with a unique brand
so to speak. It became imperative for us to have our own National anthem, flag,
currency; revenue source and projection of our culture without fear so far it
was for the public good.
There and then, the apparent potential of Nigerians
soared around like the eagle, with the world waiting and watching what the
Lion’s cub would grow up to become. Nigeria was tagged a developing nation and
one of the most likely to boom with the industrial revolution, just then the
most unlikely occurrence happened, we struck black gold A.K.A crude oil, and
our destiny took a drastic turn.
“I left the bank because they wouldn’t deposit my cheque of poems.
So I went to the store, but they didn’t accept my currency of words. So I boxed
all my stories and took them to charity. But they refused my donation and asked
me to give blood instead.
I opened the notebooks and made them look, what do you think I
wrote these in?”…Kamand Kojouri. Poet
Sweat,
Blood and Tears
Have you ever given a kid an ice cream? Sure you have,
the kid is sure to make a mess either out of excitement of mishandling, either
way, a kid is a kid right?
There is a tendency that Nigeria’s independence has a
semblance of the kid and the ice cream scenario.
Nigeria was colonized even long after slavery was
abolished. The people were made to feel inferior and incompetent so much that
it became an apparent norm that our white counterparts are more superior so
much that a saying was coined that “mistake in London is system in Nigeria”
imagine that.
No doubt the western people imported knowledge into
Nigeria, but we should also realize that they did it to benefit themselves
rather than for our liberation.
Those that resisted the British rule were of course
annihilated and the rest that complied were robbed of their self-esteem and
ultimately their souls, conscience and freewill. See? Even I am writing this
piece in English, whereas Nigerians speak over 200 languages, so technically we
are still in bondage in as much as I’m not trying to rewrite history.
Still on the path to self-discovery, our democracy was
hardly mature before the Nigerian military took over power and dealt
dictatorship upon a baby nation where what was unearthed for the world to see
was greed, tribalism, corruption and war.
“The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have
perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings”…J.M. Barrie (1860-1937)
Scottish Novelist and Playwright
Faith
If you have a family, you would realize that no matter
how beautiful or seemingly perfect someone else’s child, sibling or parents
are, you would always prefer and be proud of yours, then why do we idolize the
Dollar and Pounds over the Naira?
It may interest you to know that America and Britain
were not always perfect, neither were they as apparently powerful and as
successful as they seem today, they had their times of hardship and turmoil,
but their leaders back then had the courage to forge a future after
collectively having a common vision and shared objectives.
This life is a matter of time and chance and turn-by-turn,
that’s why world powers have always shifted.
World Superpowers shifted from the Roman Empire to the
Mongol empire, then the British Empire to the Soviet Union and presently the
United States of America, which became the first true global superpower in the
aftermath of World War II.
After that war, America was home to half of the
world’s GDP.
For four decades the Soviet Union rivaled it, but
America was always stronger because of its economy, with the Dollar as a
reliable legal tender.
With economy being the watchword here that Nigeria can
learn from, how well have we nurtured our economy, and is the Naira a reliable
legal tender?
Nigerians have over the years been systematically brainwashed,
with our co-operation also of course.
We import virtually everything we use ranging from expensive
Military fighter jets to luxury vehicles, and other gadgets by the millions,
including labour, which we can choose to learn and build upon.
With this singular action, there is probably no hope
for our economy, thus our future. To add salt to injury, we have chosen to be
greedy, corrupt, lazy, wicked and devoid of ideas.
I feel ashamed when fans of rival English football
clubs bet and clash, whereas they don’t know the Nigerian footballers that
despite their penury play with patriotism to represent a nation that doesn’t
care about them.
I am amazed when we proudly display expensive foreign
cars and luxury phones to show off wealth and intimidate the less-privileged
when some indigenous companies are struggling to sell one item in order to
boost the Nigerian economy only to get discouraged both by our financial
institutions and our over-bloated egos.
The power of the Naira is more than you know. The
power of the Naira is as strong as you are, and it is in your hands.
The power of the Naira and the Nigerian economy lies
in our faith in our country.
If we do not believe in the Nigerian dream and
ourselves today, perhaps we might wake up tomorrow only to realize that Nigeria
is no more.
Thank you for your time.
Akin Abimbola.
Twitter:
@akinzogee
Facebook:
Critical Lyric by Akin Abimbola
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Sources: American
History, Brainy Quote, Google, Good reads, The Little White Bird, The National
Interest, Wikipedia, Wazobialand
This
article is an original piece, reasonably researched and contains considerable
opinion and a unique style of the author.
The
names in actual stories are not real and the stories in this write-up are
usually fictional, consequently, people’s names appearing are purely
co-incidental, except for quotes and news that are typically referenced.
