I woke up on Tuesday to the
news of an alleged “crash” of the scheme that has made headlines in Nigeria for
a while now. I wasn’t quite interested in the news of the sudden crash, just as
I wasn’t interested in the scheme itself despite all attempts by friends,
family and foes to talk me into joining the scheme.
I’m perhaps one of the earliest
set of persons to hear about MMM in Nigeria. But my decision to unlook and not
take part. This is because from an early age, I’ve always had the mindset that
to be wealthy and successful in life (trust me, I want to be really successful),
you must create value. I have always shied away from anything that has to do
with referrals or what people call “networking business”. Like I tell people
that come at me with such, ‘This is not my idea of how to make money.’ If they
continue to press, I ask them a few questions; ‘Does Otedola do this? Was this
how Adenuga made his money? Can this make me as rich as Dangote? Has anyone
become really successful from this?’ Your guess is as good as mine on their
answers.
It is said that MMM originated
from Russia. If so, let’s assume that the decision to “freeze” operations in
Nigeria may be due to the fact that, in faraway Russia, “winter has come”. Moscow
was said to be -3oC today 16-12-2016 (according to CNN weather forecast) and that might be the reason
why “Mavorians” in Nigeria are shivering. I join the advocates and victims to
hope that MMM will ‘defreeze’ their assets in January as they claim, so that
everyone can get back their money and possibly invest in something legitimate
in the new year.
It’s
WE against THEM!
When some of us that had an
understanding of Ponzi schemes were vocal about our reservations on MMM and
advised people against putting their money into such “get rich quick” schemes
or “wonder banks” as they are fondly called, we were seen as unintelligent, unwise,
cowards, risk-averse, Thomas, Judas and so on. I remember a friend telling me I’m
too smart not be partaking in any of the schemes. In her words “Chigozie, I know you’re smart, it’s not too
late, start now.” Another friend said “Guy,
Na you suppose dey tell me about this thing sef. You sabi all these internet
things wella.” Well, they’re both right, I am smart and Indeed I sabi all
these internet things wella. So they probably should have listened to me and
heed my warning. Some of us even came
under more serious slanderous comments like “You
don’t have money that’s why you are not doing it. Broke a**” I just laugh.
So now that what we warned
about has come upon us, the “smart investors, brave hearts, and risk-takers”
are now fighting and bashing the same people that warned them about these
wonder banks. To them we are “haters, enemies of progress, Judas and even “witches
and wizards”. Why bash me for having a good laugh at the folly of people’s
quest to get rich quick through a questionable means? I mean, I warned you
about it, but you chose to prove that you’re wiser. Am I happy that you ‘lost’
money? Hell NO! Why then, am I laughing you may ask? I laugh because to you I was
foolish to be against MMM and the others.
I commiserate with everyone who
is a victim of this sudden freeze. My deepest sympathy is with the people that
must have put or should I say “offered help” with the little money they have,
with the hope of getting it back with interest in order to have a great Christmas.
I can only imagine how hard it will be for the victims and casualties,
considering the current “economic recession”.
Wildfire!
As at the last report I saw on
MMM, they claim to have recorded over 2 million Nigerians on the platform. That’s
really huge I tell you. Let’s do a small estimation. Assume that the average “investment”
is fifty thousand naira, multiply that by 2 million persons. That’s a hundred billion
naira. Even some blue chip companies can’t generate such revenue in 10 years.
But how did MMM gain such
traction in such little time you may ask? They understood the economic climate
in Nigeria and made an offer that is too difficult to resist when one is desperate.
High interest rate with a 30 days maturity period. And as with other Ponzi
schemes, they were paying and gaining trust. Soon enough, their beneficiaries
became foot soldiers and started to spread word about it to friends, family and
foes across every social platform. “MMM” was on virtually every lip in Nigeria.
“You done hear of MMM? You dey do MMM?
Omo, na MMM sure pass? Guy the thing dey pay oh!” Even in church. Trust
Nigerians to bring a religious dimension to everything. Someone said, “MMM is God’s provision to help us in this
recession.” I remember when SEC and other financial agencies warned
Nigerians against getting involved in these Ponzi schemes and other wonder
banks, most partakers and advocates of MMM cried foul and even went ahead to
rain insults on the government and indeed the President, accusing them of
subjecting the masses to hardship and wanting to take away their new found
means of livelihood.
When MMM became so rampant, other
schemes began to pop up. When I thought I had seen it all, then came “Ultimate
Cycler”. This was arguably the most annoying, because in this case, they were
required to bring 4 people to register under them and pay twelve thousand, five
hundred naira, which is then used to pay them fifty thousand naira. What peeved
me most about this one was that, virtually all the messages I got during the
time were about ultimate cycler. Close friends went straight to say:
“Chigo, have you heard about ultimate cycler?…”
The ones that haven’t reached
out for as long as I can remember were like:
Friend: Hi!
Me: Hello, wassup?
Friend: Fine, have you heard about ultimate cycler?
It became really arduous
explaining why I’m not interested, that I decided to think ahead of them. So
when someone hits me up from nowhere, I just go forward and say “Have you heard of ultimate cycler?” And
trust me I was almost always right about their intent of messaging me. After a
brief laugh, I tell them “You’re late to
the party my dear, I was one of the early partakers.” You may say I lied. Well,
I had to, it was easier for me to do, than to engage in an endless argument with
someone who is bent on convincing others to come register under them in a quest
to get rich quick. I saved myself a lot of time and worthless conversations.
But all these schemes are not
new, they only became profound in Nigeria this year due to the “economic
recession”. This seemingly hard time can be the most productive and innovative
period for some people.
Parting
shot!
Yes it is true that things
became tougher for most people this year. Yes it is true that many people lost
their jobs this year. Yes it is true that the number of unemployed is at an exceptional
level. Things are really difficult, but we shouldn’t fall victim to all these
opportunistic schemes by scammers feeding on the susceptibility of people in
such times to defraud them of their monies. To those that feel they were
smarter than MMM, and made money off them, just bear it in mind, that people are
out there hurting because their money was used to pay you and they are left
stranded now.
I hope and wish that in our
quest to make money, we remain guided by conscience and reason, and only do
things that are legitimate and invest in registered companies, so that even
when things go south, we can have a safe landing, as with NDIC and failed banks.
I leave you with few jokes I saw
on Facebook relating to the MMM wahala as
a little comic relief.
“I
was drinking Tea this morning when someone called me and said that MMM has been
frozen till January. Omo, the tea started to taste like Yoyo bitters and Goko
cleanser…”
“I
just called security to monitor my friend. He has been playing with rope since
morning and no goat around.”
“Safety
Tips:
1.
Make
sure you are very close to your friends and relatives who are into MMM.
2.
Observe
their every movement and monitor where they are going to.
3.
If you
see any of them going close to a river, ocean or stream, raise an alarm and
invite the police.
4.
If you
see any of them talking to him or herself, alert the nearest psychiatric hospital.
5.
If any
of them begins to behave angrily and break or destroy things, please notify
your friends and use cow rope to tie the person.”
😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
Feel free to laugh, drop
comments and have a great ‘freeze-free’ friday night.
God bless us all.
