I know many people only think badly about the Giant of Africa, probably due to things happening in recent times that have mostly put my country, Nigeria, in the blacklist zone with the current naira to dollar rate and the high market price, low monthly income, and a lot of other stuff. But I can boldly tell you this, I have enjoyed a lot of good times in the past, and I'm sure I am still going to, and I know nobody wants to hear that Nigeria is going to get better because it has become something we all lose faith in already. I could remember when I was very little, we stay at Mafoluku somewhere very close to the popular Oshodi in Lagos, I'm talking far back as years 2000 to 2002, we do buy yam flour, gbegiri and ewedu for less than ₦5, I bought milk and tea with just ₦5, buying sweet and biscuit with just ₦1, I was lucky enough to spend 50kobo to buy this chewing gum that as questions and answer on the wrap and these time to me was times I wish they never end.
Growing up, things started to change, the market price began to change, and I think it was at that time they introduced the ₦500 note, but it was still nothing people couldn't handle, even though the economy began to collapse gradually. Then later on, they introduce the ₦1000 note, and I know most of you might not agree to this, but they shouldn't have. Did we all see how people stood up and fought against the ₦5000 note they were about to introduce, which, if that happened, would probably make the dollar to naira 3000₦ per $1, and everything would definitely lose value? If they had stood up and fought against the ₦1000 note, maybe our economy wouldn't be as bad as this, but probably excitement didn't allow people to see how much harm it possessed back then. There is a reason why other developed countries have just a $100 note in circulation and the UK has 50€ in circulation, which makes me think the lower the denomination in circulation, the higher the value of our money, and again, it would reduce the flow of cash fraud.
Some years back, when the government decided to redesign our naira note, they started to discover millions of naira in cash at various places, some were buried, some in abandoned buildings with no one bold enough to come out and claim this money because most of it was acquired illegally, and this movement of heavy cash is sponsored by the ₦1000 and ₦500 single denominations that we have. Just imagine if our highest denomination was ₦100 or ₦200; can you imagine how hard it would be to move ₦1m or ₦2m from a particular place to another in cash because it would be heavy, call for attention, and raise suspicions?
Well, the deed was done many years ago, and there is nothing to do about it; everyone is just trying to survive right now and hopes one day it gets better... I hope you enjoyed reading this, do have a lovely day.