It would be recalled that on November 12, the Federal Government has unveiledthe new design for the N100 commemorative centenary banknote. The‘first digital banknote in the world’ will be officially issued on December 19.

Mr. Jari, in his opinion piece entitled“Controversial changes on the centenary N100 note”, critically reviews a specific but subtle change introduced to the design.

“The Arabic writing in Hausa language (the Ajami script) that read“Naira Dari” ['a hundred naira']on the N100 note has been removed,”Mr. Jari observes.“Just like the N200, and above, the former N100 note used to have the Arabic-Hausa Writing in the left lower part of the note.

“In 2009, when the paper naira notes of lower denominations were replaced by polymer ones, the Ajami Hausa-Arabic writing was removed for no reason. This development was controversial and ill-termed.

“Some argue that the Ajami writing was a symbol of religion of Islam, and, since Nigeria is a secular country, there is no need to show any religious paraphernalia on its currency. But if that is the case, why do we have writings in English? Why is it that there are inscriptions in other languages, like Yoruba and Igbo on the currency? Is it that Nigeria belongs to them?

“The Ajami writing was purposely meant to enable Hausa and other tribes that had learnt Arabic long before English to read the currency. As English came to Nigeria through the South, so Arabic came to Nigeria through the North.

“I want to call on Nigeria government and all its ministries, departments and agencies to make a thorough research before implementing innovations. Government programs are supposed to be useful and accepted by people.”

bright8:
About time jare. No ethnic group owns Nigeria more than the other.English is our official language. If you no sabi am, leave am!

maclatunji:


Comments like yours make me laugh.

maclatunji:


Comments like yours make me laugh.

aljharem:


Why is it making you to laugh ?

maclatunji:


I laugh because such comments are not motivated by careful thought but primordial sentiments that can only get you so far before they backfire.

tit:


what is wrong with the statement?
is ajami or hausa or arabic our national language?

resty4:

“The Ajami writing was purposely meant to enable Hausa and other tribes that had learnt Arabic long before English to read the currency. As English came to Nigeria through the South, so Arabic came to Nigeria through the North.
http://www.naij.com/325302-n100-note-no-hausa-ajami.html

maclatunji:


I laugh because such comments are not motivated by careful thought but primordial sentiments that can only get you so far before they backfire.

maclatunji:


The essence of the currency is for people to use it, if you make it difficult for a good part of the people it is meant for to identify and use it, then you have only proven to be myopic.

I also find it funny that the opponents of the Arabic script are motivated by hate and to a lesser extent fear. Removing the scripts will not change their fear or reduce their hate. I find it amusing as a result.

maclatunji:


The essence of the currency is for people to use it, if you make it difficult for a good part of the people it is meant for to identify and use it, then you have only proven to be myopic.

I also find it funny that the opponents of the Arabic script are motivated by hate and to a lesser extent fear. Removing the scripts will not change their fear or reduce their hate. I find it amusing as a result.

vedaxcool:


Regardless of the bigot laden statements so far on the thread, this remains the main reason why Ajami was used on the naira note, CAN is really working though, through ignorance,it is raising the next generation of lord resistance army fighters, who rather than demand good governance would prefer finding new fronts to fight Muslims. Any nation where people put bigotry and fanaticism before tolerance is doomed to be stagnated.

vedaxcool:


[s]Regardless of the bigot laden statements so far on the thread, this remains the main reason why Ajami was used on the naira note, CAN is really working though, through ignorance,it is raising the next generation of lord resistance army fighters, who rather than demand good governance would prefer finding new fronts to fight Muslims. Any nation where people put bigotry and fanaticism before tolerance is doomed to be stagnated[/s].

aljharem:


I respectfully disagree with you sir.

Arabic is not our language so is English but our official language is English. Just like Niger, their official language is French.

Now how many people can read Arabic ? Lets be honest with ourselves, the only Arabic likes of us can recognise are the ones written in the Quran not taking it to the extent of writing it on our money.

In Nigeria, we need to take different groups along, the Christians are not comfortable with the Arabic inscription on the Note. Why not just remove it and write in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and English. This why we can convert more Christians to Muslims just as Prophet Mohammed said (S.A.W)

maclatunji:


The essence of the currency is for people to use it, if you make it difficult for a good part of the people it is meant for to identify and use it, then you have only proven to be myopic.

I also find it funny that the opponents of the Arabic script are motivated by hate and to a lesser extent fear. Removing the scripts will not change their fear or reduce their hate. I find it amusing as a result.

maclatunji:


Comments like yours make me laugh.

vedaxcool:

is this guy serious? go ask the hausa and a lot of minority muslims how many of them can read arabic! A lot of people read this! Nobody is talking of conversion here carry your bigotry some place else.
Are Yoruba, Hausa and igbo the only language in Nigeria?

tit:



If none of the federating states/ethnic groups has adopted Arabic as an official language, do you not find it funny that Arabic is adopted, from the backdoor, as an official national language?

What is funny, is your threatening people about the use of Arabic in Nigeria.
What else can you do to the people of Alakio?

Ajami script
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term Ajami (Arabic: عجمي‎ ʿaǧamī ), or Ajamiyya (Arabic: عجمية‎ ʿaǧamiyyah), which comes from the Arabic root for "foreign" or "stranger," has been applied to Arabic alphabets used for writing African languages, especially those of Hausa and Swahili, although many other African languages were written using the script. It is considered an Arabic derived African writing system. Since African languages involve phonetic sounds and systems different from the Arabic language, there have often been adaptations of the Arabic script to transcribe them—a process not unlike what has been done with the Arabic script in non-Arabic speaking countries of the Middle East, and with the Latin script in Africa or with the Vietnamese alphabet.[1]

The West African Hausa is an example of a language written using Ajami, especially during the pre-colonial period when Qur'anic schools taught Muslim children Arabic, and by extension, Ajami. When Western colonizers adopted a Latin orthography for Hausa, Ajami went into decline, and today is employed less frequently than the Latin standard orthography. However, Hausa Ajami is still in widespread use, especially in Islamic circles.

Idrismusty97:
@bolded that is the point! Just because they aren't comfortable with the Arabic inscription doesn't means it should be removed. In the same currency all the other languages are written signifying the worth of the naira e.g Nàírà Méwàà, Naira Iri and Naira Goma. Notice both the Yorubas and Igbos write in Latin alphabet. If the Hausas preferred to write their language in Arabic alphabet why stop them?

bright8:


How many Nigerians speak read or understand Arabic? Why should it be made easy for only a particular set of the Nigerian populace? If you and your people find it difficult to identify and use the naira because it doesn’t contain Arabic inscriptions then so be it! Rubbish! That’s why you guys are bombing and killing people because presidency left the North.

vedaxcool:


Regardless of the bigot laden statements so far on the thread, this remains the main reason why Ajami was used on the naira note, CAN is really working though, through ignorance,it is raising the next generation of lord resistance army fighters, who rather than demand good governance would prefer finding new fronts to fight Muslims. Any nation where people put bigotry and fanaticism before tolerance is doomed to be stagnated.