The original reason why I believe a single African currency would not work. Below is how we could attempt to make it work.
The many currencies of Africa.
N.B.: Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, DRC & Kenya would use the Ng'ombe currency while Uganda & Somalia would use the Lami currency.
Symbols:
To prevent destabilization of the continent's economy, there could be two currencies: The Lami for countries lying mostly north of the equator & the Ng'ombe for countries mostly south of the equator. Both currencies would be independent with the Lami having it's bank & headquarters in Addis Ababa while the Ng'ombe could have it's bank & headquarters in Nairobi.
North of equator = Lami
South of equator = Ng'ombe
More stable countries with higher GDP per capita could be first to use the new currencies i.e. Seychelles, Mauritius, Gabon, Botswana, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, Algeria, Namibia, Cabo Verde, Tunisia, Eswatini, Djibouti, Morocco, Egypt, São Tomé & Príncipe, Côte d'Ivoire, Republic of Congo, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia & Angola.
N.B.:
Original Ng'ombe countries: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Gabon, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Republic of Congo, Rwanda & Zambia.
Original Lami countries: Algeria, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Libya, Morocco, São Tomé & Príncipe & Tunisia.
The reason for leaving Nigeria out is because of it's lower GDP per capita & it's reported questionable institutions.
The currency could be gold, platinum or cattle-backed. With both the north & southern currency having their own verifiable reserves of gold, platinum & cattle. Both currencies would be minted at their respective headquarters.
Denominations would be of 1 & 5:
Coins:
1 miaya/mia
5 miaya/mia
10 miaya/mia
50 miaya/mia
100 miaya/mia = 1 Lami/Ng'ombe
5 Lami/Ng'ombe
Banknotes:
10 Lami/Ng'ombe
50 Lami/Ng'ombe
100 Lami/Ng'ombe
Contingency minting: Should the currency see need in future, the 10 or 50 Lami/Ng'ombe notes could be made as coins & a 500 or 1000 Lami/Ng'ombe banknote could be printed as necessary. Should the currency increase in value, a 500 or 1000 Lami/Ng'ombe banknote would have no need to be printed.
Symbols:
The Lami could have the pyramids & Sahara desert as symbols. The Ng'ombe could have the Central Lakes & Mapungubwe golden rhino as symbols on their currency. There would be no human figures on either currency except maybe an image of cattle from either north or southern Africa.
The reason for not calling it an afro would be because it would virtually be mimicking the Euro & an afro is already perceived to be something else. Islamic countries could have currency minted with no human or animal figures.
Should a country be able to prove it's reserves & could prove institutions to prevent currency manipulation are up to scratch, they could begin to use the currencies. I believe that in time Nigeria & other countries could use these single African currencies. Should a country or it's institutions prove detrimental for either currency, they could be prevented from trading in these two Pan-African currencies.
Phasing out old currencies:
No new local currency would be printed in the select countries when the Lami & Ng'ombe is introduced with both local & the new Pan-African currencies being in use. The cutoff date for all local currencies in the select countries could be in three years.
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