In this article, we’ll tell you five things you probably didn’t know, but need to know about the history of money in Nigeria.
1. Nigerians haven’t always had money.
Before the colonial era, Nigerians traded differently. Value was exchanged through systems like trade by barter where people exchanged goods and services for other goods and services. If you wanted a slave, for example, you had to have something valuable like ivory or cotton to give in exchange. People also traded things like fish, gin, beads, tobacco and salt for whatever they wanted.
cowries
As time went on, the concept of currencies became more stable, as people relied mainly on cowries, beads and manilla currency.
2. The British introduced the first currency in Nigeria.
During Britain’s colonisation of Nigeria, the concept of money was introduced. Nigerians used Pounds, Pence and Shillings.
Fun fact: Nigeria used Pound Sterling until 1973
Even though the Central Bank of Nigeria was established in 1958, Nigeria continued to use the Pound Sterling for 13 years after she gained independence. Nigeria was the last country to abandon this system among the British colonised Countries. In 1973, Nigeria started using the Naira.
3. The Naira was introduced in 1973.
On January 1, 1973, Nigeria started using its own currency. It was named naira by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. This was the real beginning of the history of money in Nigeria. Naira and kobo was rolled into the Nigerian economy with bank noted and coins. The central bank of Nigeria is in charge of distributing the Naira. It controls how much money flows into the economy. The official currency code for Naira is NGN.
In 1973, we had ½, 1, 5, 10 and 25 kobo coins, and 50kobo ₦1, ₦5 and ₦10 bank notes. The ½ and 1 kobo coin
NB: Keep this Currency pictures and show it to your children
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