Why Nigeria must delete Arabic language from naira notes — Olisa Agbakoba

Arabic text has no business on naira notes, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, has told the Nigerian government.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said it is better to replace the Arabic text with the country’s indigenous languages.

“I don’t think Arabic should be on the naira,” Punch quoted Agbakoba to have said.

“We are not an Arabic country. I don’t know why that sign should be there.

“I asked similar questions when I was a member of the National Judicial Council when the question about the understanding of the Sharia Law came up, and I opposed the then CJN, Aloma Mukhtar, that I didn’t see how it should be a requirement for judges of Islamic origin to understand Arabic.

“I’m a Roman Catholic, does it mean that a Catholic judge must speak Latin? I think these are the sort of things we need to get rid of for a united, independent nation.

“We are not an Arabic nation.

“So, it will be nice to get rid of all the Arabic inscriptions and symbols, or are we trying to say we are Arabic?

“I don’t get the point. If it were Hausa or Igbo or Yoruba language, it makes more sense, but Arabic is not part of our language.

“We should replace it with our language,” he said.