The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has opposed a suit seeking to remove the Ajami (Arabic) inscriptions on naira notes. It told the Federal High Court it would cost a ‘colossal sum of money’ to discard the existing notes and print new ones without Ajami.

The CBN said Ajami is not a symbol or mark of Islam but an inscription to aid non-English speakers who are literate in and use Ajami for trade.

It made the submission in a counter-affidavit to a suit filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, before Justice Mohammed Liman.

Mr Malcolm argued the Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes portray Nigeria as an Islamic state, contrary to the country’s constitutional status of a secular state.

He contended this violates sections 10 and 55 of the Nigerian Constitution, which make the country a secular state.

Section 10 reads: “The government of the Federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as state religion.”

He prayed the court to restrain the CBN from “further approving, printing and issuing naira notes with Arabic inscriptions, bearing in mind that Nigeria is a secular state.”

He further prayed the court to order the CBN to replace the Arabic inscriptions with either English language, which is the country’s official language, or any of Nigeria’s three main indigenous languages – Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo.

But in its counter-affidavit deposed to by Abiola Lawal, the CBN argued that “the Ajami inscriptions on some of the country’s currencies do not connote any religious statements or Arabian alignment.”

The apex bank maintained that contrary to Omirhobo’s claim, the Arabic inscriptions were not a threat to Nigeria’s secular status.

It said: “The inscriptions on the country’s currencies do not and at no time have they threatened the secular statehood of the nation or have they violated the Constitution of Nigeria, as every design and inscription was finalised with the approval of the relevant government bodies.”

It explained “Ajami inscriptions” on the naira notes dates back to the colonial era “and they do not imply that Arabic is an official language in Nigeria.”

The apex bank said: “The naira notes retained the inscriptions with Ajami since 1973 when the name of the Nigerian currency was changed to naira from pounds.

“The Ajami was inscribed on the country’s currency by the colonialists to aid those without Western education in certain parts of the country, who, back then, constituted a larger part of the populace.

“The Ajami is not a symbol or mark of Islam but an inscription to aid the populace uneducated in Western education in ease of trade.”

It reasoned further that removing the Arabic inscriptions from the naira notes “would cost the tax-paying Nigerians and the Federal Government colossal sum of money to discard the existing naira notes and print new ones in satisfaction of the plaintiff.”

Hearing in the suit comes up on Tuesday before Justice Liman.

The judge will also be hearing a similar suit filed by Omirhobo against the Nigerian Army, seeking the removal of Arabic inscriptions from the logo of the Nigerian Army.

Like the CBN, the Army has also opposed Omirhobo’s suit and urged the court to throw it out.