The currency was introduced on 8 November 1997 to replace the Ethiopian birr at par, and it was named after the town of Nakfa.
Other sources claim that he spent several years as a prisoner of war in the Eritrean war, and languished in the Eritrean People's Liberation Front’s jails in Nakfa.
The nakfa currency was later named after the town, owing to its historic place in the independence struggle.
He is also credited with having been the commander who commanded over the Nakfa, Kerkebet, Zara front during the war in the early 1980s.
Nakfa | Nakfa, Eritrea | nakfa | Eritrean nakfa |