Most Nigerians are guilty of one assumption\u2014the thinking that Nigeria\u2019s standards represent Africa\u2019s standards. Like many other Africans<\/a> from Nigeria, I\u2019ve always rated Africa using the Nigerian state of affairs as a parameter. For instance, I\u2019ve always assumed that every African currency is as bad or good as the Nigerian Naira (pardon my arrogant ignorance). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, I was quite humbled to recently realise from one of my African friends here in Sweden that his country\u2019s currency (the Ethiopian Birr) currently exchanges at less than 125 per US Dollar<\/a>. Not believing my Ethiopian friend, I ran to Google to confirm his claims and was shocked at what I saw. I was shocked not because I didn\u2019t expect any African currency to measure up to the US Dollar (in fact, I believe Africa has what it takes to outdo the West in Economy), but because of my wrong assumption that every African currency is as bad as the currency of Nigeria. This country prides itself as the Giant of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n