Nairaland Forum

What is the origin of the word 'naira' (and 'kobo')

I read somewhere a while ago that "kobo" is a phonetic spelling of "copper". Pennies and other coins were/are traditionally called "coppers" by the British, so when Nigeria created its own currency, they used the local pronounciation of "coppers" for the coins.

I'm not as sure about "naira", but I think it's a contraction of "Nigeria". It emphasized the independence of Nigeria from the UK. Until then, Nigeria's currency had been named the "pound" in imitation of Britain's pound sterling.