Visuality and socio-political communication in Nigeria’s banknote portraits

Abstract

In this article, I examine portraits in Nigeria’s banknotes offering an interpretive analysis of their significance with the purpose of espousing on existing knowledge. I believe the reading and interpretation of these portraits would provide a good communication and understanding of their socio-political and nationalistic properties. Located at the interface between visuality and society this paper discursively examines the repertoire of 10 portraits of Nigeria’s ‘nationalists’. My reading is based on nationalism, historiography, and iconology. The socio-political reflection in these portraits offers relevant clues to the current developments in Nigeria. Beyond being just images on the economic tool of money, the portraits act as indicators of Nigeria’s socio-political formation and historical trajectory. Understanding this might help to improve politics and society in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

[1] In 11 June 2009, I had a tour of the Central Bank of Nigeria Museum and the economic analyst at the CBN, George Sansa granted me an interview during the time.

[2] At the heat of the resurgence for demand of Biafra independence from Nigeria in 2017, someone queried what the situation would look like if the struggle succeeded. He asked how salaries would be paid and how institutions possibly falling to the new state would be managed financially. That was the concern. In other words money becomes a critical factor to consider in such struggle: to be independent or to be dependent

[3] Education in the northern Nigeria is still suffocating severely, perhaps, when considered through the lens of religion. This is instantiated by the recent attack on Chibok and Dapchi school girls by the Boko Haram. The term ‘Boko Haram’ literally translates to ‘book forbidden.’ This is a militant terrorist group in the northern Nigeria whose original aim was/is to stamp out western mode of education.

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Trevor Vermont Morgan

Trevor Morgan teaches visual communication and graphic design at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria. He is a multivalent scholar who straddles practice and theory in visual arts. His research interests include visual studies, photography, cultural and socio-political communication, eco-aesthetics, and digital art. His current study covers artistic transmediation vis-à-vis social mediation, visual and cultural representations in Nigeria.