Efio-Ita Nyok|17 August 2016
Simon Utsu, Cross River-born, Lagos-based social commentator whose themes cut across politics, economy and entertainment, etc recently took a swipe at the Ghanaian music star, Sarkodie. Sarkodie's perceived bragging about his wealth while recording seems not to have gone down well with the social critic.
'Come, why does Ghanaian musician, Sarkodie keep shouting "You know say money no be problem"? How much does he even have sef? Is it the small 1 billion Cedis he has in his Bank of Accra account that is sharking him?', Utsu queried.
'Isn't 1 Naira equivalent to 1000 Cedis? His 1 billion Cedis will only fetch him 1 million Naira in Nigeria, which would in turn barely fetch him 50 bags of rice in the current economy. Sarkodie abeg allow us make we hear word. Only Shout that your "money isn't a problem" when you're doing your local Ghanaian songs; when Nigerian artistes feature you, keep that talk for your back pocket okay?', Utsu continued.
However, when one Mike Nnamdi Nickel and Edodi Iyam-Optimist challenged Utsu's assertion that the Naira is trailing behind the Ghanaian Cedi, Utsu retorted undoing their position. According to Nickel, 'My good friend Simon I just make a quick investigation and it look like you have it backward – One Ghanaian Cedi is equivalent to 81.18 Naira today. Sarkodie is richer than you thought my friend'. While replying Utsu noted that, 'That's in the figment of their imaginations…lol Aren't you aware of the economics gymnastics they did with their currency a few years back? I cedi = 86 Naira is just its artificial value…check its value before the redenomination they did back then'.
'It's artificial. Their cedi was as bad as Zimbabwe's currency not too long ago and their Central Bank governor did something called "redenomination"; which entails removing about 3 or 4 zeros, so 1000000 cedis became 1000 cedis. You can check it up. Soludo wanted to do that with the Naira but he was stopped by higher powers. In the real sense, the Cedi is far inferior to the Naira', Utsu further informed.
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger & the Editor of Negroidhaven.org (Negroid Haven)
