Cubana Chief Priest, a well-known nightlife promoter, has responded to Cosmas Maduka, chairman of Coscharis Group, over his criticism of the phrase “Money Na Water.”
Maduka recently distanced himself from what he called the younger generation’s “lavish spending culture.” He said he avoids gatherings where people “throw money around.”
Reacting on Wednesday via Instagram Stories, Cubana Chief Priest clarified that “Money Na Water” is not about wastefulness. He described it as a modern “philosophy of abundance and flow.”
According to him, the phrase reflects a shift in how wealth is built in the digital age. Chief Priest explained that his generation depends on attention, which he called “the new currency,” while Maduka’s generation relied on “factories, fleets, and real estate.”
He wrote, “With all due respect to the motivational speaking older generation who built wealth quietly, the world you thrived in is not the one we live in today. In your time, capital was factories, fleets, and real estate. In our time, attention is the main capital. These capitals listed cannot sell in today’s market without the major capital Attention (visibility).”
Chief Priest continued, “Visibility has become the new currency. In a digital economy, obscurity is bankruptcy. What you don’t show doesn’t sell. What you don’t amplify dissolves into silence.”
He added, “We are the noise, that’s why you know us. You even used us to trend in your dry speech because you want attention without paying for it.”
The celebrity promoter defended his popular phrase, saying, “When I say ‘money na water,’ it’s not vanity; it’s a revelation of excess liquidity, abundance, and flow. Water moves. So does relevance, visibility, and influence. The ability to attract attention and sustain engagement is the new oil field.”
He maintained that “Money Na Water” symbolizes abundance and continuous flow, stressing that visibility and attention are now the “new oil fields” of the digital era.
Chief Priest added, “Content is not noise. Content is digital equity. The same way factories produced wealth in the 80s, attention produces wealth today. We’ve moved from industrial capitalism to attention capitalism, thanks to Zuckerberg.”
He praised billionaire entrepreneurs Tony Elumelu and Femi Otedola for using their wealth to “give Africa proper visibility.” He then challenged Maduka to “remove his name” from their ranks.
Chief Priest wrote, “While your generation built fences to protect their wealth, our generation builds platforms to project it. Silence once symbolized power, today presence does.”
Chief Priest continued, “You mentioned Elumelu, that’s my mentor in the corporate sector. He doesn’t just say ‘money na water,’ he lives it. Same with Otedola, the Don himself. They use their wealth to give Africa visibility.”
He concluded, “Remove your name from that Otedola and Elumelu list; you don’t belong there. Your name dey Nnewi billionaires’ list.”
Finally, Chief Priest reaffirmed his message, saying, “As I said on Channels TV, ‘Money na water’ is a prophecy that connotes wealth overload. This is my story. Some may choose ‘lack na water,’ but here, MONEY NA WATER! Na my business be this, na my lamba; make nobody try spoil am as e dey go.”
