The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has opposed a suit seeking to remove the Ajami (Arabic) inscriptions on naira notes.
It told the Federal High Court it would cost a ‘colossal sum of money’ to discard the existing notes and print new ones without Ajami.
The CBN said Ajami is not a symbol or mark of Islam but an inscription to aid non-English speakers who are literate in and use Ajami for trade.
“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 finalized with the approval of the relevant government bodies”
(C) Control TV 2020.