5 Naira

Nigeria's first post-civil-war banknote series, introduced in 1973, replaced the pound system that had been in use since before independence. The naira had technically launched in 1973 as part of decimalization, but the political pressure to remove any imagery associated with the colonial period meant the design brief was unusually contentious. The 5 Naira was the highest denomination in general circulation for most of this series' lifespan.

Pick 16 spans a six-year print run, and notes from the earlier years of issue differ subtly in signature combinations — the Governor and Director of Domestic Operations pairings changed at least twice across the series, making signature attribution the primary tool for dating individual examples.