The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has opposed a suit before
the federal high court in Lagos seeking to remove Ajami (Arabic) inscriptions
on the naira notes.
CBN told the court that it will cost a lot of money to
discard existing notes and print new ones without Ajami.
It also said Ajami is not a symbol or mark of Islam, but an
inscription to help non-English speakers who are Ajami literate.
The apex bank made the submission in a counter-affidavit to
a suit filed by Malcolm Omirhobo, a Lagos-based lawyer, before Mohammed Liman,
presiding judge over the case.
In January 2020, Omirhobo had filed a suit against the
federal government, CBN, and attorney general of the federation over Arabic
inscription on naira notes.
Omirhobo argued that Nigeria is a secular nation and urged
the court to declare it illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional for Arabic
language to be inscribed on naira notes rather than English language or Hausa,
Yoruba and Igbo.
However, in its counter-affidavit deposed by Abiola Lawal,
CBN said: “Ajami inscriptions on some of the country’s currencies do not
connote any religious statements or Arabian alignment”.
“The inscriptions on
the country’s currencies do not and at no time have they threatened the secular
statehood of the nation or have they violated the constitution of Nigeria, as
every design and inscription was finalised with the approval of the relevant
government bodies.
“The naira notes retained the inscriptions with Ajami since
1973 when the name of the Nigerian currency was changed to naira from pounds.
“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.
“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 further said removing Arabic inscriptions from naira
notes “would cost the tax-paying Nigerians and federal government colossal sum
of money to discard the existing naira notes and print new ones in satisfaction
of the plaintiff”.
Similarly, the Nigerian Army opposed Omirhobo’s suit seeking
to remove Arabic inscriptions on the army’s logo, urging the court to throw it
out.
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