There was a time; not in fairy tales or borrowed myths, when the Nigerian Naira stood tall and proud on the global stage. Stronger than the American Dollar, almost toe-to-toe with the British Pound, the Naira was not just a symbol of sovereignty, but of economic strength and integrity. So, what happened? How did we go from economic might to monetary misery?

The 1970s were pivotal. Fresh from the civil war, Nigeria was looking to rebuild. Our agricultural sector was still vibrant; groundnuts from the north, cocoa from the west, palm oil from the east. We fed ourselves and fed the world.

Our universities were respected, our civil service was functional, and our economy was stable. But then came crude oil; black gold.

The oil boom of the 1970s shifted national attention. Agriculture was abandoned. Government revenue now poured in from oil exports. It was easy money, and it made us lazy. We began to import everything; from rice to toothpicks when we had the means to produce much ourselves. The Naira was still strong, but beneath it, the rot had begun.

Corruption found a foothold. Military regimes and civilian administrations alike plundered public resources. Leadership became more about power than service. Policies were short-sighted. Infrastructure decayed. Educational institutions crumbled. The Naira; once a proud emblem began to wobble under the weight of bad governance and unproductive national behavior.

By the 1980s and 1990s, structural adjustment programs introduced by international financial institutions like the IMF devalued the Naira further. The government borrowed heavily. The naira was floated and began to lose its fixed parity with the dollar. Inflation crept in. The poor got poorer. The middle class shrank. And the rich shipped their wealth abroad.

We stopped investing in Nigerians. We exported crude and imported refined products. We stopped planning for the future and started patching the present. Selfish leadership replaced visionary governance. And so the Naira weakened; not just in exchange rates, but in spirit.

Today, as we buy foreign rice and queue for imported fuel, we are reminded daily of what we lost. The Naira’s weakness is not just economic; it is national. It is a symptom of the broken trust between a country and its people, between leadership and legacy.

But it’s not too late.

We must return to productivity. Revive agriculture. Build our industries. Strengthen our institutions. Demand accountability. Invest in our people. The value of a currency is not just in foreign exchange; it’s in the faith a people have in their country’s direction.

The Naira once ruled. And if we learn from history not with nostalgia, but with action; it can rise again

When the Naira Ruled: A Reflection on Nigeria’s Lost Economic Glory

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