Dayo Oketola , Nonye Ben -Nwankwo,
Gbenro Adeoye , Jesusegun Alagbe,
Tunde Ajaja and Eric Dumo.
Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox , a Ponzi
scheme known simply as MMM , on
Friday opened for business after one
month of break , but investors in the
scheme have remained stranded as
they still cannot access their funds .
MMM had announced the resumption on its Twitter handle, saying it was “ now open” even though it had initially promised to reopen today , Saturday , January 14 . In the message , the scheme’s founder, Sergey Mavrodi , said because of the likely deluge of requests from participants , payments would be gradual and have limits .
He also said it would prioritise
payments to participants with small
amounts , which were not specified ,
and that big investors would have to
wait longer.
“ Please, be prepared to wait for a
couple of days . We are certain things will then calm down , and the systemboperation will return to normal.
“ We’ re the ones setting limits , so it’ s completely under our control, and we are not expecting any emergencies in principle . Have no fear and go on about your business as usual .
“ As the system is socially oriented , we will make paybacks to the poor and the economically disadvantaged in the first place ; it means to the members with small PH (Provide Help ) amounts. The richer can wait.
Moreover , we ’ve warned you
repeatedly to only provide help with
amounts that are not critical for you. ” With about three million Nigerians
involved in the scheme and huge
investments at stake, the freezing of
the MMM ’s accounts a month ago had sparked fears that the ponzi scheme had crashed .
Meanwhile , some investors have
expressed their frustrations as they
might have to wait much longer to
recover their much needed money
from the scheme.
Some of the participants told
Saturday NIGERIAPEN that their funds that were tied down in MMM were meant for various uses including purchase of goods , payment of tuition , debts , rent
and others . The fears and frustrations are further heightened by MMM ’ s declaration that it would introduce bitcoins as the
new mode of payment ahead of its
comeback , which some participants of the scheme have described as
confusing .
For example , Frank Bunna who deals in computer accessories at Olugbede market in Idimu , Lagos, said he was stranded as he had invested all the money for his goods in MMM .
The Igbo trader , who was looking
dejected when our correspondent
visited the market, said his future was dashed as he expressed
disappointment that he would not be
able to get his money back today
(Saturday ).
He said , “ This is my life ! How will I
live? I invested N 2 m ! Look at my
shop , it is totally empty . I invested the whole money for my business on this MMM ; I even borrowed N300 , 000 that I added to it. I spent six days in the hospital as soon as I heard the account was frozen. I am
hypertensive so my blood pressure
shot up when I heard the news. To
hear that I would not be paid
immediately means that I am dead . ” Another Lagos resident simply
identified as Korede , who invested
over N 500 , 000 in the scheme, said , “ There is going to be crisis in my
home . I borrowed my wife’s N300 ,
000 to invest in the scheme. I didn’ t
tell her , but I guess she’ s suspicious now .
“ I promised to return the money
December ending , but couldn ’t. That was when MMM froze our accounts .
It appears that there is going to be
some delay before I can get the
money . I just hope my wife will
forgive me in case this thing fails . To be sincere , I am afraid . ”
An undergraduate of the University of Benin , Benin City, Edo State , who
identified himself as Chiboy because
he did not want his parents to know
he invested his tuition and money
meant for his dissertation in MMM ,
said he had been left stranded since
December 2016, when MMM was
suspended and desperately needed hisVmoney back.
“ 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, ” he said .
A teacher in a private secondary
school in Egbeda , Lagos, who spoke
on condition of anonymity , said the
bursar of the school had invested
N 1 . 5 m belonging to the institution in the scheme before the scheme was suspended last month .
According to the teacher , when the
bursar could not provide the money ,
he was sacked by the school
management and asked to sign an
undertaking to return the money
when MMM reopened on Saturday ,
January 14 .
“ The bursar has since been arrested
and in his undertaking , he had said
he would 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 . A travel agent in Lagos, who
identified himself as Mr. Oduntan,
lamented that he has been going
through difficulty after investing
N 900 , 000 meant for paying his rentVin MMM with the hope that he would get about N1 . 2 m in return .
Oduntan said he was desperate to
recover his funds as his landlord had
been on his neck since then.
Also , a banker in a new generation
bank in Ikeja, Lagos, told one of our
correspondents on condition of
anonymity that three of her
colleagues were sacked for
introducing some customers to MMM .
According to the banker, his
colleagues were sacked 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 source said , “ 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 he had
invested in MMM was meant to pay
his debts while another said the
money was meant for his wife’ s
business . ”
Another banker working in a
commercial bank in Akute , Ogun
State , also said one of her colleagues
was sacked for investing N2 m he had loaned from the bank in MMM and was unable to pay back the loan.
A barbing salon operator in Ilorin ,
Kwara State , Adejare Lawal , who
spoke with one of our correspondents
on Thursday , said he had invested
money belonging to some of his
colleagues , which was from their
contributory scheme, in the
investment .
According to him, he invested around N 350 , 000 in November , hoping to get a profit of at least N 80 , 000 by the second week of December before accounts were frozen.
“ This is the biggest risk I have taken
in my life and at the moment all I can think about is how to get the money back . I was the one coordinating the barbers ’ association ’ s contribution in
my area and I invested it in MMM . ”
In Oyo State , an estate agent, Mr.
Funso Ogungbade, said he had
invested the sum of N 3 . 5 m , part of which was from the rents he had
collected from tenants on behalf of
some landlords, in MMM . “ My target was that by Saturday , everything would be sorted out but as it is now , I cannot get the money back soon.
MMM is saying that it will start by
paying the people with small funds
and that it will also put a peg on how
much we can get, ” he said .
A student at the Ladoke Akintola
University of Technology , simply
identified as Wole, said he had
invested N50 , 000 into the scheme a week before it froze all accounts .
Another MMM investor , who simply
identified himself as Olayinka, said ,
“ I’ m desperate to recover my money .
All my investment has gone into it, ”
he added. Olayinka , who lost his job over a year ago , said he had invested N700 , 000
that was paid to him as entitlement in MMM , given how profitable the
scheme was before it collapsed .
He said , “ I have been counting down since the day MMM announced the
closure . Everything I had went into it so I am seriously stranded . ”
Another MMM investor , Miss Janet
(surname withheld), said , “ I lied to
my brother to lend me money to
pursue my Master’s programme. I ’ve not been working for some time , and he was the one who advised me to go for a postgraduate degree. So , when I asked for money , he gave me N150,000 .“ With the way it was booming, I invested my N 600,000 in it, including the money I had saved from my previous workplace . So, I ’m in a fix as I’ m talking to you. ”
Our students invested school fees in
MMM – VC On January 11 , 2017 , the Vice - Chancellor of Osun State University, Prof . Labode Popoola , told journalistsbthat the school ’s authorities would publish in national newspapers names of students who owe tuition,claiming that some of them had invested the money in the MMM scheme.
Noting that the affected students had owed since their enrolment, Popoola said it had come to the knowledge of the school that most of them were enrolled in MMM .
He disclosed that the cumulative debt being owed the school by the students was N2bn .
He said , “ We are aware that parents
of most defaulting students had given them their school fees and it was revealed that the students had
diverted the monies into the MMM
scheme. ”
Confusion mounts over bitcoin
Findings by Saturday PUNCH showed that more Nigerians have been searching for information about bitcoin on the popular search engine-Google .
For instance , between Thursday and
Friday, search for “ where to buy
bitcoin in Nigeria” on Google Nigeria
rose by 200 per cent, according to
Google Trends .
Search for “ MMM bitcoin ” rose by
150 per cent; “ What is bitcoin all
about ?” rose by 160 per cent ; while
“ meaning of bitcoin ” rose by 60 per
cent .
One of the participants who spoke
with Saturday PUNCH, Bunna, said he had no idea of what bitcoin meantand that the more he asked questions about it, the more confused he got.
“ I don ’ t know what bitcoin means .
Don ’ t even bother explaining how it
works to me because many people
have tried and they left me more
confused ,” he said .
“ Once I get paid, I don’t even want to be part of any MMM again . God
knows that nothing in this world will
make me do this nonsense again .
While other people were celebrating
Christmas , I was in the hospital . Even now , I have yet to recover, so why do you think I would want to do this kind of thing again ?”
Wole, a LAUTECH student , said ,
“ Another problem now is the
introduction of bitcoin to the
platform. I have yet to fully
understand how it operates . I will
read more about it so as to know how to go about withdrawing my money . I just hope the system wouldn't crash. ”
Speaking about the bitcoin option
recently introduced, Janet said ,
“ Whether bitcoin or no bitcoin , I
want my money , possibly today
(Friday). ”
Chiboy said he had only heard of
bitcoins and was not interested in
“ such things. ”
Olayinka said , “ They wouldn ’t dare
introduce bitcoin at this time . But if
they do , we are at their mercy . I just
want my money back. ”
