Decimal Day Board. Consideration was given to introducing a new major unit of currency worth ten shillings in the old currency: suggested names included the "new pound", the "royal" and the "noble". This would have resulted in the "decimal penny" being worth only slightly more than the old penny (this approach was adopted, for example, when South Africa, Australia and New Zealand decimalised in the 1960s, adopting respectively the South African rand, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar equal in value to 10 shillings). But Halsbury decided, in view of the pound sterling's importance as a reserve currency, that the pound should
Nigerian pound Nigerian pound The Nigerian pound was the currency of Nigeria between 1907 and 1973. Until 1958, Nigeria used the British West African pound, after which it issued its own currency. The pound was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. The Nigerian pound (which was at parity with the British pound with easy convertibility) was replaced with the introduction in 1973 of the decimal "naira" at a rate of 1 pound = 2 naira. This made Nigeria the last country to abandon the £sd currency system. Coins were issued in 1959 in denominations of ½, 1, 3 and 6