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robeesanda@yahoo.com Hail, Saudi Arabia

ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE TO YOUR FRIENDS

RE: ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS ON THE NAIRA

indly permit me space in your journal to respond to a recent article titled “Arabic Inscriptions on the Naira” credited to a gentleman by the name Stephen Irinyemi. The article, for the benefit of those who may not have read it, was a diatribe on the legitimacy of certain words on the Naira in Arabic alphabets which Stephen finds so offensive he used such terms as “major error…deceitful…sheer injustice and a way of undermining the place and dignity of other ethnic groups/dialects in the Nigerian configuration”.

I find it hard to believe that such an ‘offensive’ inscription would have gone unnoticed by an average user of the Naira like Stephen for so long, assuming, of course that he wasn’t born just yesterday. I find it even hard to believe that the editors of a news media with of the stature of the Guardian Newspaper missed the chance to advised the writer to find out the meaning of the words he so vehemently detests before publishing it.

Stephen, the words with the Arabic alphabets on the naira are, in fact, in hausa language and not Arabic at all. The use of Arabic letters in other languages is not new. Farsi, Pashtun, Urdu are among languages that use Arabic letters but are themselves quite unintelligible to an Arab unless he or she is educated in the said languages.

Similarly, your article and mine written in Latin based letters do not qualify for Latin. The words in Arabic letters you find so offensive on the naira, in transliteration, read; naira biyar (five naira), naira goma (ten naira), naira ishirin (twenty naira), etc, etc.

Long before the British colonized our land and introduced their civilization the only medium of learning in the Kanem-Borno and Hausa Fulani civilizations in what is now northern Nigeria was in Arabic alphabets. The founding fathers of the independent nation called Nigeria were not ignorant of this fact and ever since the national currency has carried those words in deference to those who were educated with Arabic-based scripts but not in the Latin-based languages.

Let’s not forget that hausa language is the most widely spoken of the Nigerian languages and many minority ethnic groups in the north find it a convenient means of communication with other ethnicities. Perhaps as a language it has contributed more than anything else on the foundation of the northern geopolitical block. Hausa language is spoken widely in Africa in countries like Cameroun, Chad, Sudan, Niger, Mali, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Burkina Faso. During FESTAC 77, there were calls by notable Africans including Prof. Wole Soyinka, for the adoption of an indigenous dialect for the entire continent. Hausa and Swahili were proposed.

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Why then the animosity against hausa language written with Arabic scripts? Perhaps the grouse is with the alphabets themselves. Well, the numerical figures on the naira, 5, 10, 20, 50 etc, etc. are also Arabic by origin. If we are to rid the national currency of all Arabic heritages, we should also erase those characters and replace them with Roman numerals. Imagine learning mathematics in Roman numerals.

The Arab civilizations contributed so much to the modern western civilization that has gone unacknowledged: astronomy (as distinct from astrology), algebra, chemistry, medicine, calligraphy would not have been what they are without the contribution of the Arabs. The English language is replete with words borrowed from Arabic. Check the origins of such words as alchemy, alkali, algae, alcohol, algorithm, assure, assassin, etc. etc, and you would be surprised. I guess Stephen is among millions of Nigerians like me who are unhappy with the post-independence trends in the Nigerian socioeconomic and political life.

In a recent interview, the brother of South African President, Thabo Mbeki, remarked that many African countries were better off during the colonial era than they are today. Expectedly, there were calls from many quarters for his silence but the figures speak for themselves and remain unchallenged. Nigeria, like much of Africa has failed to achieve what the founding fathers had hoped for. Democracy has not proved to be a successful experiment in our continent.

The rule of law, freedom of expression and justice are basic democratic necessities our country direly needs but lacks. There is need to redress this and I support calls for National Dialogue, Supreme National Conference, Conference of Ethnic Nationalities, or any other name to be called. I am hopeful that the voice of reason will prevail but I am not deceived. If history is anything to go by, there is a danger that this conference like others in the past will be dominated by trivialities and no action. This is so because the vast majority of the proponents are merely people crying in vain for relevance in the national political stage.

Those with real concern for the country would never have their chance to speak. Instead of addressing the inherent ethnocentrism and corruption in our culture we might end up discussing issues like the legality of Arabic words the Naira. Interestingly, Stephen has a brilliant plan for a rotational slot for other ethnic groups to inscribe words on the Naira. I feel there is no need to rotate the slot. The first ethnic group to occupy the slot may not be willing to vacate it at the end of its tenure and there will be the genesis of communal clash and bloodshed.

Has the learned gentleman considered the sheer cost of reprinting the notes each time one ethnic group has to vacate? I have another idea. Using micrographic technology, we could make inscription for each and every ethnic group on the Naira. There is no need to remove the Arabic inscription on the Naira simply because some individuals feel paranoid and xenophobic about it.

Nigeria’s problems can be solved by dialogue but if the resolution is to last longer than the conference, let each person with ill-gotten wealth return it to the national treasury, let every armed robber turn in his gun to the authorities, let each bigot travel across the country and see themselves in the eyes of others and let them see others in them.