Nigerian Kobo Coins…Where did they disappear to?

Hello everyone. I hope you had a fabulous weekend. I did.

I bought a trampoline for the kids and set it up in our garden. They lost interest after only a few minutes, and I ended up jumping on it all day. Great to act like a child once again.

Okay, so, I am writing a love story set in Abuja, Nigeria. And in a dramatic scene, I wanted the characters to be distracted by loud sounds of metallic items dropping on a tiled floor.

The first thing that came to my mind was the jingle of coins falling out of a purse. It sounded perfect in my head until I remembered that coins are now rarely used in Nigeria.

That made me sad…

I halted my writing (My usual habit of procrastination), and searched the internet for old Nigerian coins, called Kobo.

I literary felt tearful thinking back about how in the 80s, my parents gave me and my siblings 10 kobo each every weekend to buy bubble gum and sweets. We each used to put our coins in a piggy bank to save for something special.

This is a part of our childhood that we cant pass to our children, because due to years of inflation and mismanagement of the economy, coins have almost completely disappeared from Nigeria.

To me, it is a big shame.

My father told me that when he was much younger, there were coins as low as 1 Kobo. I only got to experience using 10 kobo and upwards.

Right now, there are rarely any coins in Nigeria because they no longer have any value.

Do other African countries still use coins? Which countries?

Please comment about which denominations of the Nigerian kobo you spent.

Also comment if you’ve never seen a Nigerian Kobo.

I first spent 10 kobo. I miss those days.