In Nigeria, where officials are keen to clean up a reputation for massive corruption, authorities insist that humble citizens show more respect for the country’s currency, the naira.
At weddings any self-respecting guest will stick banknotes onto the forehead of the dancers, musicians or the bride. Flamboyant types throw them by the handful to be sure their generosity gets captured on video.
But such behavior theoretically now attracts a fine of 50,000 naira (US$426), six months in prison or both.
With the exception of some new plastified low-denomination notes, naira bills are normally grubby, torn and smelly. Fear of thieves prompts many people to store the notes in their underwear or their socks.
In the meantime, one multi-million graft scandal follows another, while the officials caught red-handed almost invariably deny any wrongdoing and refuse to quit what is after all a highly lucrative public office.
In a full-page color advertisement, which given the number of pictures it contains, appears to be aimed at the illiterate, the Central Bank tries to educate Nigerians on “How not to handle the naira.”
The Central Bank’s five commandments are as follows:
“Do not store the naira indecently.” The photo shows a young woman stuffing a wad of notes inside her bra. The bank instead bids “Neatly arrange your money in pouches” and shows the same girl slipping those very notes into a backpacker-style money-belt.
Other commandmants are: “Do not squeeze the naira, do not stain the naira, do not deface the naira.”
But the point that has most amused or outraged Nigerians is “Do not spray the naira.”
A picture of a wealthy Nigerian woman throwing handfuls of naira over the bride and groom amid great merriment at a wedding is juxtaposed with a photo of the right way to do things — hand the money over in an envelope.
The naira, in the words of Central Bank governor Charles Soludo, is “a window on Nigeria, our people, heritage and culture, and portrays our national character.”
King Sunny Ade, Nigeria’s leading juju musician, recently got involved in the debate, to the amusement of some newspaper columnists who noted that he is one of the performers who most benefits from being showered with naira.
Sunny Ade argued that “spraying” naira is part of Nigeria’s traditional culture.
“Of all the critical national issues begging for an Act, is ‘spraying’ of naira notes at parties the most urgent?” asked a Sunday Tribune editorialist.
Two years ago when the bill with the “respect the naira” clause was brought before parliament, the senator presenting it had barely finished speaking when several senators started ripping up copies of the draft bill in protest.
Just before leaving office in May last year Olusegun Obasanjo signed the bill into law. But Nigerians have carried on just as before, using naira bills to note down phone numbers or clean their ears and nails, wrote Reuben Abati of the Guardian.
And as for parties, the law makes no mention of dollars or euros, Abati concluded.
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
NUCLEAR WARNING: Elites are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers, perhaps because they have access to shelters, Tulsi Gabbard said After a trip to Hiroshima, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday warned that “warmongers” were pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Gabbard did not specify her concerns. Gabbard posted on social media a video of grisly footage from the world’s first nuclear attack and of her staring reflectively at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. On Aug. 6, 1945, the US obliterated Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people in the explosion and by the end of the year from the uranium bomb’s effects. Three days later, a US plane dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, leaving abut 74,000 people dead by the
RSS