Back then, one Nigerian pound was equivalent to one British pound.

Before independence, Nigeria s legal tender was the British pound.

It's like a coffin, it basically sends all the sound, like a gutter ball effect, down the aisles.

With the establishment of the Central Bank of Nigeria in 1959, the Nigerian pound was introduced.

But the naira s introduction quickly put an end to parity with the British pound.

If investors don t want to hold euros, pounds, or yen, where else can they go?

The future position of the City of London, according to Keynes, depended on the pound sterling continuing to serve the business world as the equivalent of gold.

Today, it costs 220 naira to buy one British pound, which implies 15 annual average depreciation since 1973.

George Soros can bet on a run on the British pound. Thai import export firms can bet on a run on the baht by accelerating their dollar receipts and delaying their dollar payouts.

When a government borrows a euro (or a dollar, pound, peso, or yuan), it commits itself to pay a euro in present value of future interest payments and eventual repayment of principal.

But some argue that, even if the dollar is not protected by being a reserve currency, it is still safer than other currencies. If investors don t want to hold euros, pounds, or yen, where else can they go?

The euro was an interesting experiment, but, like the almost forgotten exchange rate mechanism (ERM) that preceded it and fell apart when speculators attacked the British pound in 1992, it lacks the institutional support required to make it work.