Jan 17, 2017
These Nigerians sef!
MMM is back again o, my salary is back again o, Ebube! My house rent is back again oo
Those words above are from a short video/skit a Nigerian called Kelvin Sapp made after the ponzi scheme MMM, which was freezed from mid-December last year was unfrozen on Friday. If you don’t know what MMM is, I am sure this will do well to keep you informed about it, read here.
When the news of the freezing of MMM was broken December last year, a lot of things happened. MMM had promised that they will unfreeze the accounts on the 14th of January, 2017. Many Nigerians who had invested in the Ponzi scheme were sad, frustrated and some were ill, from headache to high blood pressure. Just imagine investing your life savings in a ponzi scheme and you get information that the account had been frozen, I’m sure your reaction to this won’t be appealing at all. Students invested their school fees, their Parents gave them money for their tuition and they invested it in a ponzi scheme for Christ’s sake! Many other students invested the money they would have used for their thesis/dissertation in this same ponzi scheme, then, they got stranded! I even heard (unconfirmed news) that a particular couple who were supposed to get married had invested money for their marriage so that they can have a 30% ROI, which will be able to cater for the expenses incurred during the wedding; they also got stranded!
When this scheme was frozen, I was surprised at the amount of people who had invested in it, about 3 Million Nigerians had invested in it, 3 Freaking Million Nigerians! Chai! People invested tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions in this thing, isn’t this greed? How greedy can you be to invest this amount of money in a ponzi scheme, many folks were even informed and instructed not to invest because MMM had crashed in some Countries prior to coming to Nigeria. As a matter of fact, in Russia, the Founder of MMM, Mavrodi was jailed before he got released and continued.
However, on Friday, the 13th (Ya, that movie… lol) of January, MMM said the accounts were unfrozen. Nigerians were surprised that they kept to their words and they even came a day earlier than expected. Many people saw this ploy as a way to get Nigerians to trust them because they came earlier. I am sure many greedy Nigerians will use this as an excuse.
It was this information that caused Kelvin Sapp to make that video. A popular Nigerian Comedian also made a funny skit about it, specifically warning Nigerians to get their money back and ensure they don’t invest in this ponzi scheme again.
Today, I picked up last Saturday Punch Newspaper and it had a massive front page headline stating the reopening of the scheme. However, the founder stated that they will pay the poor first; meaning those who invested more would have to wait for some days before getting paid. I opened the main page and I started reading about a man that lost his savings, this was what actually inspired this post. This man is a businessman and he had invested about 2 Million naira. He said, that was the money he needed to fill his shop, his shop was empty. He had borrowed an additional 300,000 naira to complete the 2 Million naira. He said, when he heard about the freezing, he spent 6 days in the hospital, he is hypertensive and his blood pressure shot up when he got the news.
“To hear that I would not be paid immediately means that I am dead.”
Another man had borrowed 300,000 naira from his wife and he invested 500,000 naira in the scheme before it got frozen. He said,
“There is going to be crisis in my home. I borrowed my wife’s 300,000 naira to invest in the scheme. I didn’t tell her, but I guess she’s suspicious now. I just hope my wife will forgive me in case this thing fails. To be sincere, I am afraid.”
I really pity this man sha, he must have sounded really scared. Just imagine if this thing fails, what will he say to his wife. I really hope this doesn’t affect his home.
A student of UNIBEN who had invested his tuition fees and money meant for his dissertation in MMM, had this to say;
“I had thought that I would be able to get my money back immediately MMM reopened but from what I heard, it would not be possible. My Mother will kill me. I don’t even know what to do.”
I really think some of us are unnecessarily greedy! What this guy did is despicable and absolutely ridiculous!
Here is another shocker, a teacher in a private school in Egbeda (a part of Lagos) who spoke on anonymity said the bursar of the school had invested 1.5 Million naira belonging to the school in the scheme. The bursar was sacked after he could not produce the money, he was asked to sign an undertaking to return the money after he was arrested.
“He said he will get the money back immediately MMM resumed operations. But with this development, it will take some time before he can get paid, and that is if he gets paid at all,” the teacher said.
Another man had invested 900,000 naira meant for his house rent in MMM, he was hoping to get 1.2 Million naira back in returns.
“He said he was desperate to get his funds back as his landlord had been on his neck since then.”
Final example, a banker in one of the new generation banks in Ikeja, told the Saturday Punch Newspaper correspondent that 3 of his colleagues were sacked for introducing some customers to the scheme. His colleagues were sacked because after the aggrieved customers officially complained to the bank manager that they were stranded because they had invested in MMM, which was introduced to them by some employees of the bank.
“The customers said they needed their money back. They blamed some of my colleagues for introducing them to MMM and the bank had to sack them. One of the customers complained that the money he had put in MMM was meant to roof his house and that his planned relocation to the house has had to be delayed because of that. Another one said the money invested in MMM was meant to pay his debts while another said the money was meant for his wife’s business”
In conclusion, after reading all these stories and I can assure you that there are so many other examples stated in last Saturday Punch Newspaper. After reading all these stories, don’t you think some of us are very crazy? Some people are seriously not feeling fine, how can you invest 3.5 Million naira rent paid by tenants in MMM? This particular person collected the money on behalf of the landlord. Human beings (particularly Nigerians) are too greedy and unnecessarily greedy. While I was reading these stories, I got very angry and sad simultaneously. I felt pity for some of them and I was angry with all of them. When we realize that money won’t always solve our problems, maybe we can then stop putting so much unneeded emphasis on money. You don’t have a reason to be greedy, this was why the Bible stated that; “The love of money is the root of all evil.”
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You can read the stories here:
