The naira is the official currency of Nigeria and one of the symbols of its nationhood. First issued in 1973, this currency has seen several devaluations over the years but more importantly, it has been deployed to honour some of the Nigeria’s past heroes. However, this important national symbol has also been used to reinforce age-old patriarchy through the sheer proportion of male portraits that grace the naira especially the fifty naira banknote

In 1991, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a new denomination of the naira, Nigeria’s official currency and legal tender for transactions within the country. Within months of its circulation, the newly minted denomination had humorously assumed a new denotation on the streets. Nigerians, surprisingly, dubbed the blue-hued banknote ‘Better Life’ in a period when the country had barely recovered from the economic woes of IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme despite the estimated $12 billion oil windfall of the Gulf War.

Since average incomes and the accompanying standard of living had fallen due to the prolonged austerity, why then did struggling Nigerians dub the new banknote ‘Better Life’?

Although life was not better in Lagos or Asaba, the country’s first lady at that time – Maryam Babangida- had ceremoniously embarked on a financial jamboree purportedly towards uplifting Nigerian women out of poverty. Launched in 1987, two years after her husband seized power in a military coup, Mrs Babangida’s welfare project was called the Better Life Programme for Rural Women and amongst its noble objectives was “raising the consciousness of the rights of women, the availability of opportunities and facilities, their social, political and economic responsibilities.”

The ‘Better Life’ tag has since stuck to the fifty naira note. Even though the Central Bank of Nigeria has issued four higher denominations since 1991, no other banknote has had such metonymic appellation as the fifty naira banknote. Regardless of the sentiments of good fortune which it inspired, the fifty naira bill has a rather ugly side that most Nigerians, especially women, have not taken note of. Whether my accident or intention, the fifty naira banknote is an affront to the dignity of Nigerian women with which it supposedly shares a convoluted history.

Designed to inspire feelings of nationalism that is rooted in the equality of Nigeria’s different ethnicities, four culturally relevant portraits which depict Nigeria’s diversity appear on the fifty naira. On the reverse side of the banknote, another set of portraits showcasing the industry of Nigerians appear with three men engaged in fishing, an economic activity that is predominant in rural areas. Both sides of this banknote seem to appeal to Nigerians to embrace diversity and industry as a means to peace and progress. Unfortunately, this is where the good story ends and the sad one begins.

At a closer look, the fifty naira note is very much a symbolic expression of the entrenched patriarchy in Nigeria’s postcolonial society. Out of the seven portraits on the fifty naira, only one is female. As a matter of fact, the fifty naira has been reissued once since its initial launch in the early 1990s. In the first design, the lone woman on the front occupies the central portion of the banknote. Despite being outnumbered by her male ‘counterparts’, she appeared as a key figure in the designer’s attempt to symbolise Nigeria’s unity in diversity.

READ MORE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/the-life-and-times-of-the-woman-on-the-fifty-naira-note/#.XZUe3vfvV1k.twitter