It gets worse and worse by the day, so much so that one would wish that something magical would happen to revert the state of Nigeria to something more bearable for the majority, if not as blissful. With the impending change of legal tender yet again, it might be a good time to change the faces that we have on our Naira notes.
On our currency, we have faces of reputable people who have done tremendous things that they are recognised for. It is one of the few things of honour that can be given to someone for being a hero for the country in some way.
For a change, we could have new faces on our Naira notes. It's not that we would be in any way disregarding the past heroes and their achievements. It would be more like giving that honour to new faces that do deserve it. And then the old notes would become legendary relics.
It's all paper, but it has value. We interact with these notes every now and then to basically buy and sell. It's not all rosy with the value of our naira now, however, especially when retrospectively looked at.
The Giant of Africa, my country, has seen the value of its currency (naira) fall drastically against dollar over the decades. From a time when one naira used to be around one dollar, and fast forward to now, we have one dollar equal to something over a thousand naira.
It is sad and demoralising to see the value of the naira depreciate against the dollar. The resulting inflation cuts across many sectors of the nation and then places a challenging life for the majority of its citizens to live.
The correlation between the dollar rate and the naira is admittedly unclear to me, but its effect is apparently in our everyday activities.
If, by some way, we can cause the value of our dear naira to appreciate against dollar so significantly that the country would have butterflies in her bellies, it would have to be a radically effective one. I do have a proposal for something that might work in that vein, though.
Just think about this with me: what if we, in light of putting new faces forward for a change, put the face of Sir George Washington instead? He's on the dollar bill. Imagine the possibilities that could follow with that.
Call me crazy, but the dollar might just think that it has a sibling out there, some long-lost one. When it figures that its sibling hasn't been fairing well for a long time now, it might try to come down to the sibling level to help it.
The next thing we may just begin to realise is that, with every passing moment from when the new legal tenders become the norm, naira could begin to appreciate against the dollar. And, just as it cuts across different sectors of the country, the situation of our economy may very well improve.
I know it sounds pretty counter-intuitive to have someone who has no part in Nigerian history become the face of the naira notes. But look at it from a different perspective. It may not be logical, of course, but it's something to imagine and smile about, although very improbable.
However, I do hope that with these few points of mine, I have been able to convince you and not confuse you that Sir George Washington should become the new face of the naira notes.
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