The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has expressed serious opposition to a suit before the Federal High Court in Lagos seeking to remove the Arabic inscriptions on naira notes.
While telling the Federal High Court that it would cost a huge amount of money to discard the existing notes and print new ones without it; the apex bank said the Arabic inscription is not a symbol or mark of Islam, but an inscription to help non-English speakers or uneducated populace who are literate in it to ease trade.
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It can be recalled that a Lagos-based lawyer, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, who filed the suit before Justice Mohammed Liman, contended that having Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes portrays Nigeria as an Islamic state, contrary to the country’s constitutional status of a secular state.
Omirhobo, who said he does not know what the Arabic inscriptions mean, is seeking the court to order the CBN to replace the Arabic inscriptions with either English language, which is the country’s official language, or any of Nigeria’s three main indigenous languages – Hausa, Yoruba, or Igbo.
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The lawyer said that with the Arabic inscriptions on the naira note, the CBN violates sections 10 and 55 of the Nigerian Constitution, which makes the country a secular state and wants the court to restrain the CBN from further approving, printing, and issuing naira notes with Arabic inscriptions, bearing in mind that Nigeria is a secular state.
In the counter-affidavit by the CBN, deposed to by one Abiola Lawal, the CBN maintained that contrary to Omirhobo’s claim “the Ajami inscriptions on some of the country’s currencies do not connote any religious statements or Arabian alignment.”
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The CBN also tackled the lawyer on the claim that the Arabic inscriptions were a threat to Nigeria’s secular status.
The apex bank said, “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 finalized with the approval of the relevant government bodies.’’
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The CBN explained that the “Ajami inscriptions” on the naira notes dated back to the colonial era and they do not imply that Arabic is an official language of Nigeria.
“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.”
Bastards,that’s the only thing you know. Religious intolerance. Tmr you shall shamefully say a jewish symbol should replace it. The Courts are adviced very strongly to disregard that nonsense request and throw it out into the garbage can that it rightly belongs.
“The colonial administration brought about the Arabic inscription on the Naira note”- Then I believe change has occurred from the time of independence till date. Nigeria is diverse in cultures,languages and religion. Therefore, it will be best if that Arabic inscription is removed from the notes. The three major tribes can be inscribed on the Naira notes. Or English which is the official Nigerian language or no inscription at all. This is the TRUTH and for the peace of our beloved country. Remember, this country does not belong to a certain tribe,but all tribes. Let peace, love,tolerance and understanding be amongst our people.
First of all Arabic is not a genera language in Nigeria, all our notes have Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa translation of the currency value on each note so that rubbish arab language or inscription should be removed. Very baseless argument to keep the inscription on it. Systematically forcing Islam on us.
Very very true.arabic denigrate African language and culture
No to islamazation of Africa.
Yes.to Africanization.
Africans must put sll colonial impositions in garbage .arabic is tied to arab religion while english is neutral for business its the less evil of both arabic and english.
That was before Mr.CBN but now things have changed. If that is the case let them put all the major languages of the world like french, German language etc to ease trade. Religion is sensitive let CBN stop uplifting other languages better than others. Why not use the local languages? Assuming the colonial government used Jewish language in the naira note to ease trade with Israel will the north accept it? Knowing fully that they hated the Jews. Anything religion in government businesses should be removed and allow everybody to practice his or her religion freely and personal. Hajj fairs and Christian pilgrimage fairs should be stopped.
I support the lawyer’s move. The Arabic inscription should be removed from the subsequent notes that will be printed.
Fuck u .you are talking about Africa Egypt I think belong to your father
Ignorance is really a disease, if all of you and the daft lawyer have done your home work well, you wouldn’t have waisted your time and energy, cos all that you need is to understand what the inscription means first, besides the Bible is written in English, Muslims must go to court to ask for the removal of English inscriptions.
Absolutely right
Lol..the point you gave that the Bible is written in English is regarded as useless. The Quaran is also written in Arabic, no one should have a problem with that.
Your point is baseless
Why are you displaying your stupidity? Is the Bible or koran compulsory for all? Your comparison peaks you as a religious bigot.
So there are no English Quran? Mumu
You’re a fool, you want to cause a religious war
Sorry Bible is not written in English it was Hebrew and Greek..what you see in English is interpretation
No. Lack of knowledge is a bigger diseases. Somebody from the South who doesn’t understand arabis inscription on the Naira Note should go to the North to meet the one who understands Arabic to explain what that curse is, right? The Holy Bible was written in Hebrew, Greek and other languages but translated to English for everyone’s understanding. Why then do you want somebody to keep explaining the nonsense that makes no sense in the Naira Note? If Yoruba, Igbo and Hausas languages are written on the Notes, will heaven fall?
Don’t say they’re ignorant of the think that is not right.state you own understanding
You are the one showing crass ignorance. Arabic is not the language of any ethnic group in Nigeria. We dont even understand its meaning. I dont think any inscription should be on the notes, in the First place. However, of na inscription dey hungry us, E better mmake we kukuma write am in Pigin English wey everybody dey talk nah! Happy ending be dat ?.
Wait sule Manu or gambari. Who colonize us… Arabian or United kingdom, are you outdated Mr. Man… Why are you going backwards instead of forward. Use your imagination either it is remove or use local language. You always like to be slave of other country in the name of civilization, in fact let them remove any foreign languages on notes and use our local language. Hope that sort out the issue any other objection. Thunder go fire such person. Shkena
What concerns Bible with our currency
You are sick in nature! Bible is also written in Arabic language for your information you daft.can’t you for once differentiate spade with shovel?
If you were not the ignorant one, you would at least be able to spell “wasted” Even the analogy you used too doesn’t make sense. Why is there Arabic inscriptions on the naira note? And why are you so offended that the rest of the country besides Muslims don’t want that on our currency? Making an analogy of the English written on the Bible, the Bible is Christian literature, is the naira note only for Muslims? Why are you staking such huge claims on it and feeling threatened? The naira note belongs to all Nigerians and not just Muslims so I don’t think it is such a such an outlandish request to ask that Arabic inscriptions should be expunged from it.
No one is forcing Islam on you, it is a language that’s understood by the north, and what the Arabic inscription read on the ₦100 note is “naira dari” which translates to “hundred naira”.
Same hundred naira note and other currencies translated into the three major languages in Nigeria. Igbo Hausa and Yoruba. That Arabic inscription is not necessary. It should be taken off our currencies
Your translation is commendable but since Arabic isn’t part of our language, it should be written in Hausa language instead.
Maintain your words
Do you mean anything in Arabic is representing Islam? Check the forward of Gideon bible, the Arabic writing there is a vesrse from the Qur’an? Or for what reason do the editors consider the arab dialect? If you still have problem with the Arabic inscription, try and read carefully the newsletter again or do more research on what brought about the inscription in our currency. Your claim to force Islam on you lacks the necessary merit and even it is undoubtedly racial.
Fuck u
If as you said Nigeria belong to all of us,then there’s still a large number of people in the northern Nigeria who understands only the Arabic inscription. Note that the ajami is not Arabic, but hausa
Why are you guys so hell bent on explaining to those who doesn’t want to understand. Please stop it, its stupid and kinda looks gullible and disgusting, we don’t have to explain ourselves. I pray they succeed, that’s when we will show them who we are.
Since they wanna take the religious lane. We will march throughout the north with our own agenda of abolishing churches, since in the north Muslims are the Majority, we will cancel Saturdays and Sundays, and adopt friday as our week day. The signs of cross in whatever form should be removed before it hospital or whatsoever. We are not Christians.
SO MY FELLOW NORTHERNERS/MUSLIMS
See we have to fight fire with fire. No time to waste in trying to explain anything to anyone.
They say two wrongs doesn’t make a right. To me I said that’s false TWO WRONGS MAKES RIGHT INDEED
Just listen to yourself hypocrite, you are such a type that cause helm in the country. Are y sure, you are Nigerian by birth. No peace in your life shame ad disgraceful creature
aliyu u are right let us call the attention of our leader to cancel Saturday and Sunday as week end and make it Thursday and Friday for north people bcos Muslim are dominant,.
Biggest mumu of the year
So if they remove it they won’t still know its hundred naira?
Just asking for clarity
Let me call the attention of our dear colleagues on this issue that the inscription our currency is not Arabic but is Hausa way of literal communication, if we can recall from the history of that colonial masters met northern part of Nigeria with established way of Administration,Literacy,Culture, Tradition and Values, that why the colonial Masters decided to imployed indirect rule rule system of administration using the established administration structures and processes to ease governance.
Let me also remained us the literal meaning of LITERACY is the ability to read and write in any language, thats why the colonial Masters Use/add the AJAMI Inscription on our Currency for the ease of financial transaction to all Citizens of Nigeria.
God bless you, afformentio we’re not in the colonial era is the government in the interest of the or against the interest of the nation
You’re communicating
Baba why can’t we throw the trash away and face the reality bro.
Will you agree with me that it is not religion neither ethnicity is our problem in Nigeria but bad leadership.
Together we can say no selfish leaders.
Let there be no peace if only because of the appearance of the Arabic characters on the bank notes. Just as you have said, “Nigeria is for every Nigerian’s” then what about the English characters that are on the bank notes? Are we English? Been colonized by the British doesn’t make us to be British. We are still identified as Black People of Nigeria and Africa’s for that matter. English is centrally and majorly used to write the Bible for use in Nigeria and the same English is in use on the Nigeria bank notes or currencies without any Muslim complaining, objecting or condemning its appearance or presence on the notes but just because of hatred, social uncivilised feelings and religion biases you cannot accommodate your negative inner feelings in order to call a spade,a spade so that there should be religion tolerance. What does the Arabic inscription reduce on you as an individual? The English men that have the English language knows better why they combined both English and a fair part of Arabic so that all irrespective of tribe or religion reasonably carried in the administration of justice. Mind you! If you are talking of language representation, is not only Fulani’s, Igbo’s, Hausa’s, Yoruba’s, Kanuri’s, Itsekiri’s etc that makes Nigaria but a collection of over 500 languages make’s up a country (Nigeria) but the adoption of English and Arabic as a symbol that represent the interest of almost 99% of the country (Nigeria) as stake holders solved a thousand feelings and questions. Let the sleeping dog continue to lay or else it will end not well. If the mouth knows what to say without sense or reasoning so also the ear should often be ready to hear the responses with or without senses. Therefore, REFLECT!
So which change are you talking about and who brought English to Nigeria aren’t they Christians know what you will say .say Na English be your papa’s language stupid . bringing diversity in the name of religion is stupidity
Don’t you think it is best we all just go our separate ways, since we both clearly know we are different people. I don’t know why you so really want to be tied to the southerners.
SHAIKH You are a fool a bastard indeed
The Arabic letters on the note is Hausa Language just the way English alphabets are used to write out Yoruba and Igbo Languages on the notes. If the roar is because it’s Arabic Alphabets of the Language of Islam, lets not forget that the English Alphabets are of the Language of Christian Religion. Those too should be removed. Also the cross symbol of our hospitals and ambulances and the public holidays on Saturday and Sundays which are all Christian and for the sake of Christians should be discontinued. Why doesn’t some people don’t want peace and harmony in this Country?
1. English language is not the language that is associated with the birth of Christianity but Hebrew. English is Nigeria’s official language.
2.We have Muslim holidays in Nigeria not just Christian.
3. The ambulance and hospitals that have the Cross sign are owned by Christians. It’s not mandatory to have them, if a Muslim person has a hospital, they can put their own sign, they own it.
4. In faith based schools, they have their different sign, be it cross or the crescent moons.
5. Nigeria is not owned by an individual, we want peace and harmony which is why people want our languages only to be present in our currency which is a symbol of our country.
6. The main reason we had Arabic writings in our currency during colonialism doesn’t hold anymore. Our neighbouring countries are Francophone not Arabic. If we needed to do transactions with Arabs, there is something called Bureau de Change. Things have advanced making life easier for us.
7. They can be Hausa on our currency as it is part of our languages. We don’t want a religion based language as this is a secular country.
You can use build your own hospital and a big minus sign it’s OK.
Please, stop making that mistake, the medical symbol/sign is the plus sign not the sign of the cross. The plus sign (➕) is different from the sign of the cross.
Go and find out what cross means.learn the history of cross before Jesus, and check what it mean in hospital symbol
Little thing you are raining insults….when is this ignorance taking you to.why is Islam always know for violence and arrogance???????
How barbaric can you be.
Bar dan iska kawai da addinin musulunci yake so yayi fada aniyar sa ta bishi
You call someone bastard???…shame on you why can’t hebrew be inscribed on our currency but arab can???…you’re delusional
We are not Islamic state, why not Chinese or french then we can fully understand that it’s not there for islamic purposes.
No constructive argument from you . ONLY to curse and scream to corver up your ignorance
Mr bully! Can’t you make your points without attacking someone? Pls learn to address issues of concern and not attack a person! Nigeria remains a secular state and citizen has the right to express his or her opinion
Are u not a cow like this so?
Why so much hate?
In this twenty first century, that inscription longer plays any role and should be removed from a new notes to be printed henceforth.
However, existing notes should not be discarded because of this mere inscription.
God bless Nigeria.
Chief Rufus Ikhanvbode Jp.
Wlh he is crazy
My brother it’s not like that, what he mean is that the Arabic word in our currency simply means that the whole of Nigeria are Islam but the word should be change to enlish, Yoruba, hausa, nor Igbo beside it’s not only the northerners has non educated people’s thanks
The colonial Master done mighty damage to us aside giving us freedom.Arabic language ain’t there language why enforcing it on us if it is not their selfish interest it must be removed for mutual understanding
Fighting for the removal doesn’t say they want to replace it with Aramaic or Hebrew. If you read the whole thing carefully you will know that they want to change it to our official language or any of the major ethnic languages in Nigeria. You’re the one talking about religion discrimination so you should question why Hebrew wasn’t inscribe on the currencies as well
Who is CBN and who is Nigeria? Nonsense for anyone to come in attack of removing Arabic inscription in this country called Nigeria. Some people are mentally sick, this the main problem we have in this country, tell me how to tell the world that sensible country would adopt to two contesting religion in one country currency and judisuary.
The leaders of this country is stupid and useless to trust if at this time they are still contemplating what could be the problems of this country and way forward to save it.
Tell me how you fell you can have two family with two defrent language and expect peace to be in their mist?
They should remove it immediately and also end sharia court in this country if they need this country as one Nigeria!!!
Correct. In fact all things that symbolize any religion should stop starting with removing Sunday as a work free day
Are you truly Honourable in the way and manner you have expressed yourself?
Read over what you expressed and written to be able to answer this question.
Thank you.
No no problem, Sunday also will be removed as a work free day
Very stupid not only in words but also indeed, now even after this statement, u’ll still claim at ur gatherings in the mosque that Islam is of peace, Peace my fucking foot even if some ppl are willing to go down the religious lane does ur Quran also tells u to follow them on that same path and from ur statement I think ur Quran supports violence rather than the peace it claims to preach and we’ve got a big problem on ground.
U need to open ur eyes to the truth
Okay let’s take ur argument into consideration “The Quran doesn’t support violence”
* But u are willing to kill to protect some damned integrity of a dead man and his dairy
* Okay the Quran may not be all about violence then but we must all note it has enough to turn the heart of fellow humans against one another
Tell me have u seen a Christian in this new age openly burnt for saying Jesus Christ is a fool or is stupid, of course not and even if anyone says that he’ll just be ignored and ppl will start praying for him and the worst that will happen is that ppl might think he is mentally challenged and he will be prayed for or taken to a hospital or just simply ignored but if it’s said that ******** is a fool na tires and fuel remain plus extreme beating to near death injuries I don’t know why the heck u’ll take up arms for a god that can’t fight for itself and if u believe ur god is that powerful let it fight it’s own battles not u fighting for it.
Christianity has evolved to the point where even if a pastor incites riots or commit murders the pastor is literally going against his religious beliefs and can nolonger be considered a pastor and if he wants to hide behind a Bible verse or chapter he’s gonna have to read the entire bible which will end up condemning / denouncing and finally making him to repent unlike ur religion the erring imam will hide behind a Quranic chapter to support his initiatives and even reading the Quran to the finish will end up strengthening his resolve.
Have u seen a fight btw Catholic and Protestant it’s not even possible cos Las las no be the same Jesus Dem go call if una wan pray
But currently right now there is still a violent purging going on btw Sharia’s and Sunnis
I just imagine waking up 10pm for night to take that meat wey I don mark for pot only for my fingers to be cut off the next morning. Haba on top meat wey pesin go still eat
Being a Christian doesn’t give u the liberty to kill someone but being a Muslim gives that much and even promises paradic rewards.
(Laughably pathetic)
What will u do if u enter a plane and someone starts reciting a psalm 91 or 23 yeah apart from the unease ur fanatism to ur religion causes u, u are not threatened in anyway well since u can literally hear all what is being said but if u enter a plane and someone starts reciting any random Quranic verse and on looking at him/her they are fully dressed in the Islamic mode of dressing and slightly bows their head wahlahi u are gonna scream Jesus when u hear a random rapid beeping sound: and that’s the tattered image of ur so called peaceful religion.
In the south here apart from jealousy, envy and other vices no one dies from a machete injury or burning tires simply becos they exercised their freedom of speech but over in the north it’s the fucking opposite everyday it’s like ur religion and Holy Quran was established on blood and bodies ur religion should make u help each other not kill each other for differing opinions.
It’s really simple remove the fucking Arabic inscription no one here in this country is of an Arab minority so why the hell is that inscription on the Nigerian note a fucking national symbol and I saw some brainless replies about the English language…. Very stupid replies I mean u literally know a person by the question he/she asks and not by the answer they give and those ppl asking such childlike questions are really exceptional at showcasing how stupid they are. Nigeria is an anglophone country and we adopted the English language not just becos we were colonized by the speakers but cos we are all united in slavery (nah just jk ) it’s cos in language we are all diversified but the English language brings us together and not only that Africa still views the colonists as great powers and their countries as heaven and if u wanna live abroad u gotta speak English and if u have a problem with it go try receive ur visa while communicating only in ur local language.
If u still have a problem with English then go to the Middle East for ur vacation and holidays, u’ll really enjoy relating with ppl of ur kind who speak the same language with u and can kill u for just trying to be like them.
The CBN is just dabbling into religious matters if they refuse to change their mindset cos the north is not the only place with uneducated ppl the south also has its own share. For fucks sake this is a national symbol it should be free of all forms of religious symbols and foreign languages which are not official and I look forward to seeing a message from a northerner with an increased sense of national identity not clouded by religious beliefs.
At least someone is making sense, but at the end someone would still ask him to keep shut. Nigeria won’t grow with this same people kn power, we can’t get total independence with this kind of non progress mindset .
I only have one question to ask CBN and Co., and my question is which tribe in Nigeria has Arabic as her language?
The best opinion for me. Thank you so much
Hmmmm!!!
I thought our naira notes were designed after our indepence. What right does the colonialist had to dictate what should be or shouldn’t be on our currency?
What is the interest of CBN in this. Are they saying that our languages in Nigeria should not promoted or more important to us than the arabic inscription on our naira notes.
I think it should be an issue of debate with the participation of all Nigerians and not some few individuals.
There is more to this. God help us.
This Islamic inscription on naira note is just one of the one million problems we have in Nigeria (ZOO). If because of the Hausa populace don’t understand English what about Yoruba, Igbo and other populace are they all have western education? Nigeria we are not ONE UN please divide this country for peace.
God bless you
CBN defence is very weak and does not make sense. In the colonial period, this inscriptions were put on the naira because majority of Notherner lack Western education then, can that be said of the current Notherner Nigeria?. The Arabic inscriptions have overstayed its relevance, it should be expunged. It is no longer needed as Notherners are now far more educated than the colonial period. The arabic inscriptions on our currencies should be removed immediately, or replaced with our local languages.
I respect everyone’s thoughts on this.
Leaving every other things behind.
1. What is the means of the inscription?
2. How does it help a child in Nigeria?
3. Should we at this time consider having colonial inscription on our symbols of independence?
4. Will replacing the inscription with the 3 languages just as CBN did on the polymer notes help communicate one Nigeria?
5. Should we use Nigerian Pigin English invented since its becoming recognised?
Thanks.
It is not my business what the meaning is. The impression created with the inscription is enough to compromise the secularism of Nigeria State. It should be taken out period.
The symbol is not our language or our adopted lingua franca, so should be changed to any of our native languages.
Is like some foolish Nigerians dont even know our problem, don’t even know what we should waste our energy on,what is the problem with Arabic inscription in the currency? Which threat has that made to other non Muslims? You don’t know the waste of resources that it will cost the country? Finally you don’t know that is not all Arab that are Muslims,Arabic speaker are Muslims and no Muslims if you dont know.I don’t know why much of you fail to know that you guys ignorant is a channel of belligerency to our nation. Foolish people.
this is a shame to the deginitylty of this country that some ethnic nationality will believe that they are better than the others,time will tell and that time is now,we must unravel the shains of slavely in our hands,it is time to put some people where they really belong idiots
Mumu is there anyone or tribe who speak Arabic in this Country? Use your sense before talking.
Why much emphasis on Arabic inscription on our notes? Are we Arabic or even Ajami as posited? Remove it. It doesn’t stop you from serving your Islam or Christianity. CBN’s defense is so childish and pedestrian. People defending that idea are rather myopic. The Arabic inscription doesn’t make any sense in our Nigeria of today and in history.
Those for inscription to stay are very violent in their contribution. It not defendable and should be expunged.
You are the one that is foolish here,how can you speak such foolish and nonentity words here,that Islamic language must be removed with immediate effect,
Why all these vetuperations and expletives for a simple issue, I think it’s high we for the unity of this Nation and eschew religious and ethnic bigotry. The CBNs argument that Arabic is inscribed on our naira notes is to aid the uneducated from the north, what effort did they put in place to aid the uneducated from the South? Let’s go for what will unify and sustain our country’s unity. Best, English should be used, because shouldn’t be using the term”uneducated” in this 22dt century. This country has been ruled for a long time by the northern oligarchy, so whose fault is it that we still have uneducated elements in the North.?
Your translation is commendable but since Arabic isn’t part of our language, it should be written in Hausa language instead.
Thank you for this enlightenment. Hope to give this information more wider publicity through conventional media outlets so that the populace get to know, understand and appreciate the reason for the inscription.
As CBN claimed “to aid the populace uneducated in western education ease of trade” that OK but this NIGERIA NOT ARAB, THE INSCRIPTION SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM NIGERIANS CURRENCIES.
Is this a mischief by the lawyer or inexcusable ignorance that Arabic is not Islam. Arabic is a language and the use of its inscriptions does not make what is written Islamic. What do you now call the Bibles written in Arabic? Are they also Islamic? Malcolm Omirhobo should get educated and learn to differentiate between language and religion.
Thank you for saying that, whatever that is written there should be written in English. English is our official language. Arabic or whatever it is would be expunged.
The last time I checked, Buhari is still in charge. Haters sorry.
I don’t care if Arabic is an Islamic or not! Just remove that goddamned forking language from our naira!
I wandered why BIAFRANS are against it
Are you a terrorist or a racist?. We Muslims have no problem be the inscription removed or not, remember it doesn’t features anymore in the polymer notes and no alarm has been raised. The problem you Christian poses is the believe that Arabic language is a symbol for Islam. Particularly about the inscription is transliteration of housa language not a translation and even if it’s, i would not be standing against it removal as it is aimed to propagate Islam and it is by no means significance to Islam but Christians believe, that is the basis of your claims. It hadn’t been raised by Muslims that Thursday and Friday should be the free days just as saudi Arabia and other islamic nations. By these claims of yours ( Islamisation, islamic inscription, secularism state of Nigeria) it shows that all you want is to reinforce your own religion, fulfill your own desires does the inscription disturbed the Christians from worshipping just as the Muslims? The biased state of Christianity still stand out. Continue pls
Thank you for that! He’s just trying to create the problem that’s not there. Islam is his problem not really the Arabic that’s written on the naira notes. As you said, he should have study it first before creating any argument maybe that would’ve make him present a better case. Back them people work with sense, whatever that was made, was made for the people.
I only have one question to ask you and CBN,and my question is……
Which tribe in has Arabic as her language?
InrahimSadeeq- Bible texts were mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, with some portions (notably in Daniel and Ezra) in Biblical Aramaic. Biblical Hebrew, sometimes called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language. The very first translation of the Hebrew Bible was into Greek.Aramic and not Arabic pls.
Ibrahim Sadeeq- Bible texts were mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, with some portions (notably in Daniel and Ezra) in Biblical Aramaic. Biblical Hebrew, sometimes called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language. The very first translation of the Hebrew Bible was into Greek.Aramic not Arabic pls.
The idea of ‘one Nigeria’ is laughable and plain stupid and it’s things like this that make me believe it’s better if this country should just divide.
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 finalized with the approval of the relevant government bodies.’
Alaye, it does. It should be replaced with our local languages period.
But Nigeria is not an Arabic nation nah! So it should be removed immediately! Let but hausa language lobatan!
This is interesting, Nigerians making unnecessary arguments over nothing. Ajami inscription on the Naira notes, the official currency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has not depreciates it’s value. I believe what we should focus is how to strengthen our currency to be at par with dollars and pounds.
No one accepts Naira abroad for exchange for commodities and this is what we should collectively fight for.
Nigeria has never been a secular state – at least in action. Why do we have holidays on Sundays and during Islamic or Christian activities…? Why do we have the cross symbols in our hospitals?
If we have to go to that extent, I believe a lot of changes will be made to address these unreasonable issues. It’s preposterous to be talking about them.
Long live Nigeria..!!
So far you are the only reasonable person here. Godbless you
I don’t care if Arabic is an Islamic or not! Just remove that goddamned forking language from our naira!
In All of this comments I have not read the translation of the Arabic text, can you all that say we are looking for trouble tell us what is written there? Cause I still stand with does who say it should be expunged from our identity our naira.
Good development by the crusading lawyer.. The Arabic inscription is basically the denomination of the note. For ex, the one on the five hundred Naira note is simply ‘Naira dari biyar’: N500 in Hausa. And, before the white man came, Hausa land was using Arabic script to read & write( that was what was used in writing the Kano Chronicles). So, I earlier said it’s a good development that a Christian Southerner is in the fore front of this fight. Once he succeeds or before he does that, we’ll also fight for the removal of the word ‘Ministry’ and ‘Ministers’ from all our laws. Just like America, we should be having Departments and Secretaries because those other words connote Christianity. Period.
The Arabic inscription should be removed.
If CBN thinks that some tribe in Nigeria doesn’t understand English and our local languages.
They (CBN) should print separate bank notes with Arabic language for them. Am wondering if we are still under colonial era.
It’s high time we get things right, Nigeria is a multi lingual State, we should inscribe our own three language Igbo hausa Yoruba (wazobia) or rather still our pigin English than Arabic which we don’t understand. Please remove that stuff from our currency
See Biafrans, what is your problem with Nigerians currencies?
How does that affect the economic, education and general welfare of our nation…
This is what happen when you are just earning monthly salary without any duty been assigned…. Foolishness and unnecessary action…..
Well said Sir. God bless You.
It never cease to amaze me why everything done in this country is targeted at the North and Islam. The Arabic inscription on the Nigerian Naira that Northern Nigerians knowledgeable in Arabic language could read has been removed in some other currencies by Charles Soludo when he printed the “centenary” 100 Naira note and the plastic 50 to 5 Naira notes. And the same ploy is coming under another Igbo CBN Governor. If it will please or help them actualise biafra let them do it.
Lawyers mostly waste the precious time of courts and whole nation.
The confused CBN maintaining that the Arabic inscription is there to aid uneducated populace transact easily is the worst defence i have ever seen in my entire life. Come to think of it, is it only in the north who are cleaved to Arabs that we have uneducated ppl in Nigeria? What provision did they made for the uneducated ppl from other regions? Nigeria is not an Islamic or Arabic country and as such all Arabic inscriptions in both the country’s currency and it’s military must be removed with immediate effect.
After reading the article and browsing the comments, I still don’t know what the inscription means!
It means :‘Naira dari biyar’: N500 in Hausa.
My concern is why not just write ‘Naira dari biyar’ instead of the Arabic.
Islam might have nothing to do with the reason that it is written in Arabic but still, Nigeria has Soo many language, why not write it in Hausa instead.
The Northern part of Nigeria is said to have the highest illiteracy which should not be so. This is increasing the illiteracy by encouraging them to only learn Arabic which many other states do not understand, thereby making their communication poor. Hausa is their language.
The Arabic inscription on our currency is not the problem of this country
They are looking for opportunities to steal money
Bastard!!!
#Endsarsnow
Going through most of the comments,I think we the citizens of this Nation needs to renew our minds. Arabic in itelf on our currency might not be anything wrong. Our concern first and foremost is to ask what the meaning of the Arabic inscription is before we can say anything further. Let us not use relegious bias to spoil this great Nation of ours. Please if anyone knows the meaning of the Arabic inscription, help us translate it to English. God bless Nigeria. Thanks.
The meaning is: ‘Naira dari biyar’: N500 in Hausa.
The problem here is not the religion but the language. They could have easily written the ‘Naira dari biyar’ without using Arabic.
Arabic is not our language,the purpose of using Arabic during colonialism is no longer valid. Now we have Bureau de Change.
Our currency is our national identity/symbol. We don’t need foreign languages on it. English is our official language. Then we have the our own languages.
If at all we needed translation for trade, we should have French as our neighbouring countries are Francophone.
Let the CBN remove the so called star of David on the N100 note that’s the symbol of Christian religion and not the arabic inscription which has been there for years to guide our citizens who could not read in English,a colonial language.
CAN and other trouble makers of the Christian faith are responsible for this chaos
The Arabic inscription was to balanced the way money can easily be understood in the north because as at that time the Northern part are already learned in reading Arabic then, while the southern counterparts were total illiterate no Arabic no English, the white having wasted precious time educating the south learning ABCD employs the use of English write up too on our currency. Note that Arabic was in Nigeria before English, Imagine people that just manage to understand English now calling for scraping Arabic write up today ..,You go fear when Illiterates finally can speak English hhhhhhhhhh…you can have your buafraud and place Nnamdi Kanu head as your symbols…
The CBN in all of their argument did not/ can not state the meaning of the inscription, they are only saying it does not pose threat to the secular state of nigeria. If it means something good they should be able to tell the meaning to the world.
So the Arabic text on naira note is the biggest problem Nigeria have, foolish people, if I say this country does not disgust me I’m lying, religious crisis is all you know, even the Jewish country still has Islam and christianity amongst them and they’re living large, Nigeria please grow up from your slumber tweh?
Nigeria is not an islands country enough is enough we can’t continue with all this shit remove it simple.
Executive Ignorance plagues Nigerians. First, the Arabic you see on the currency is Hausa Language with Arabic Scripts. Second, the numbers on the currency and everywhere on earth are called “Arabic Numerals” because the so called English language adopted its numbers from the Arabic Scripts. Third, neither Yoroba, Igbo are advanced enough to have their own script. They use English scripts (letters, ABCDEF etc) to write their own language. So, Hausa is the only Language in Nigeria that actually has a script. Finally, I wish Nigerian Muslims will learn a few things. First, all Muslims are your brothers, regardless of tribe. Second, all none Muslims are your opponents, no matter their tribe. Opposition to the arabic hausa script on the Naira isn’t about secularism (Although, Nigeria constitution says Nigeria is Multi-religious, not secular), all the noise is about non-Muslims opposition and enmity towards Islam. So stop wasting your time trying to explain anything, build up your brotherhood and oppose them, conquer them and suppress them at every opportunity.
It should be removed now.
Your dripping sarcasm aside, you are the first person to provide a sensible argument in favor of the Arabic inscription. That argument is that while the northerners use Hausa as their language, they used Arabic script in writing Hausa, unlike the rest of Nigeria who used the Roman script.
The determining factor then, would be the translation of the Arabic script. It must translate directly to Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba language, and not Arabic or English, just as the Roman script used in the naira translates directly to Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo.
ARABIC IS A LANGUAGE NOT A RELIGION
The Hidden Secrets about Arabic that most religious leaders Wouldn’t Tell You…
There are more Christians in Palestine than in Israel. Their vernacular is Arabic.
There are more Israelis who are Muslims than those who are Christians.
The population of Palestine is 12 million, 7 percent [approximately 840,000 of them] are Christians.
In contrast, Israel population is 8.5million. Only 2 percent of Israelis, [approximately 171,000] are Christians while 17.5 percent of Israelis, [approximately 1.5m], are Muslims.
The religious affiliation of the Israeli population as of 2019 was 74.2% Jewish, 17.8% Muslim, 2.0% Christian, and 1.6% Druze, with the remaining 4.4% including faiths such as Samaritanism and Baha’iism, and irreligious people with no faith.
Now let me further break it down.
Most of the 840,000 Palestinian Christians speak Arabic as their vernacular. Most don’t speak or understand English.
Their Holy Bible is written in Arabic language.
In the Arabic Bible, God is called Allah. Which is how God is called in Arabic language. Same way the Yoruba Bible calls
God “Olorun” and Igbos Call God Chineke
If they want to say “God is great”, they also say”Allah Akbar.”
If they want to say “Glory to God” they say”Alhamdulilahi.”
Their preachers preach to them every Sunday in their churches in their vernacular, which is Arabic. Just like the Catholic Pope preaches in Latin. Sunday services in many parts of Egypt too are conducted in Arabic because that is their native language.
Don’t let the fear mongers continue to spread fear and sow discord among us.
Those saddled with the task of uniting us have become instruments of division. Arabic is not Islam and Islam is not Arabic. One is a language, the other is a religion.
Arabic is a language like English, like French, like German, like Spanish, like Hindi, like Yoruba, Hausa and Ibo. It is not a religion.
So if you like another man’s English language and claim to hate another man’s Arabic language because most Muslims speak Arabic, my friend, you are simply a slave of accidental civilization.
~George Udom
The fact that the inscription was done by our colonial masters is even enough reason for it to ve been removed.
Many African countries ve changed their names as given by their colonial masters, we are still here dili daliing on what the colonial masters inscribed on our currency even long after we ve changed from pounds to naira. These people don’t ever want us to move forward.
Average Africans have no solution to his problems let alone solving general issues.
Giving attention to non-issues and leaving main issues in Africa is a manifestation of how backward we are in our thinking.
Since when has “translation” of text become an issue that deserves so much energy?
Christianity and their hypocrisy are one of the major problems in this country. They create unnecessary problems and they are bitter liars who hate the truth.
They are a set of mysterious creatures and that is why hell is their abode. They adopt lies and deny truths. They embrace clear mess and contradiction in their so-called Bible. They invented “Trinity” to confuse the whole world and surprisingly they themselves cannot explain it. They know their leaders are liars yet they still follow them. They are bad hypocrites. They are being governed by the devil, their main duty on this earth is creating problems, rubbishing the truth, and embracing rubbish.
Whenever you see them talking negatively about something/concept just know that “that thing is right” and when they embrace something just know “that thing may be wrong”.
That is how they reason.
Their leaders -pastors are liars and they have so much brainwashed them and deprived them of the capability to think straight
Finally, they have succeeded in getting us all and I can see a clear vision of diversion of attention here. We are going from front to back don’t you think? Just recently we all came out with one mind one voice demanding for what is right which is good governance and we were able to achieve the goal in one way or the other. But I am suprise to see my fellow brother and sister fighting a religious battle over our currency that has been in existence even before many of us were born. It’s such a pain and it surprises me to see that we lack vision as a young world. The question now is… Is this the next line of action for us? Is this what our children and yet unborn are to come and experience? Religious fight? I pity us all.
This is a dumb reasoning from the Central Bank.
Let him accept that he is trying to win Mr. Presidents favor by retaining the Arabic language on a Nigerian naira.
How has that Arabic language helped the Naira to appreciate that without it Naira would depreciate?
Why did not the US, China, or even South Africa inscribe Arabic on their notes in order to attract investment from those who could only read Arabic language and signs?
Layman’s reasoning!
Why not use a Nigerian local language of any tribe, than to import a language that is alien to us????
There is no need to make this matter a religious one.Please change it to wazobia one of our languages period. Stop calling people names when they are making positive suggestions. Why do we want to remain in some of the mistakes the colonial masters did. The illiterates of other tribes in Nigeria do not understand Arabic.
If you said it’s to interpret for the uneducated ones in Nigeria, what about the one that doesn’t deal with Arabic words or are you interpreting to the Arabic nation, please my opinion is that we should change that Arabic words which we don’t know the meaning generally and write it in English, hausa, Igbo or Yoruba that’s our major languages
NIGERIA IS ONE BUT EVERYBODY KNOWS HIS/HER FATHER HOUSE.
Nigeria, is a country where everything is accepted without caution and questioning. Nigeria is a country, where an alien or foreign menace previal and dominate it’s chambers without hesitation. Nigeria, is a country whereby even after independce fall back into the hands of their oppressors. Nigeria, is also a country where the fulani’s, damfodio’s caliphate, those bastards think they can forcefully inject their soured ideology into. As for the arabic inscriptions on the naira note, it is undoubtful that, the country values and tend to promote foreing ethnicity, dialect, styles and culture more than theirs. Arabic language, tribe, culture and others are never Nigeria’s. Nigeria, have their major languages and tribes that should be used, instead of arabic. Cus, that’s for the arabia’s. Has any of the Nigerian major languages been used for an inscription of any denomination of bank note in Arab countries like Irak, Afganistan, Libia and others? If no, why is it used here in Nigeria.