Cameroonians have generally cultivated a superiority complex against many products Made in Nigeria such as…the currency. Indeed, many Cameroonians think that the Naira has a lower value compared to the CFA Franc. A legend was even created according to which, Nigerians go shopping with wheelbarrows full of bank notes, such is the low value of the Naira. Consequently, people must carry around wads of cash. Which is however not true.

The fact is that many Cameroonians are not aware that 1 Naira is equivalent to FCfa 1.9. Or that, upon exchanging currencies, 1 Euro is equal to 335.6 Naira while 1 Euro is equivalent to FCfa 655.9570.

In reality, the difference between the two Cameroonian and Nigerian currencies is rather on the number of notes issues. There are 1 Naira notes while the CFA Franc used in Cameroon and even the CEMAC sub-region (Central African Economic and Monetary Community) only has notes from FCfa 500.

From a wider angle, the presumption of low value for anything Made in Nigeria is more generalised. Because, just like China, Nigeria has become a champion in the production of Low Cost manufactured products. Only that this mass production which has been strong point of the country to the point that it became in 2015 the first economic power in Africa, even though it has just been taken over.

As a reminder, the 2015 GDP of Nigeria expressed in 2016 US dollar value is of USD 296 billion, while for South Africa (who regained the position of first African economy over Nigeria) it is of USD 301 million, thus USD 5 billion more.

Sylvain Andzongo