As
the issues pertaining to the highly controversial ponzi scheme, MMM,
continue to keep Nigerians divided, Owei Lakemfa has given an
interesting view into the matter.
THE Mavrodi, Melnikova, Mavrodi (MMM) international scam
known in Nigeria as the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox, has from all intents
and purposes, collapsed in Nigeria. It took along, the savings and
hopes of about three million Nigerians.
Some of the victims are reported to have attempted suicide. But
contrary to our culture of emphathy, and, being our brother’s keeper,
many have taken to the media in self righteousness, berating the victims
and accusing them of being greedy gamblers.
In a situation where otherwise respectable people are reported to
be stealing pots of soup – out of desperation to cope with a runaway
inflation that monthly posts at least eighteen percent increase – it
should not surprise us that there would be millions of Nigerians
attracted to a Ponzi Scheme like MMM.
Some not so informed commentators blame illiteracy, and I say they
should examine the profile of the victims; many are educated and have
assess to the internet. In fact, a lot got into the scheme through the
internet. So they had access not just to the MMM website, but also to
search engines like Google where they read that the scheme they were
about to get involved in was created in 1989 by three Russians; Olga
Melnikova, Vyacheslav Mavrodi and Sergey Mavrodi, who named their
scheme using the first letters of their surnames.
Some of the Nigerian ‘investors’ knew that in the 1990s, some 10
to 40 million people lost up to $10 billion in the MMM scheme. I was
aware, far back January that the scheme was running in Nigeria and those
who tried to talk me into it, were educated Nigerians with a minimum
of a degree. We argued about it. But all I could see were desperate
Nigerians who seem to have lost confidence in the country and were
trying very hard not to lose confidence in themselves.
If so many Nigerians can make the suicidal journey across the
Sahara Desert and then a more dangerous one crossing the Mediterranean
Sea into Europe in leaky, overcrowded boats, are we surprised that they
would take a MMM risk? It is easy for the overfed to preach contentment
to the hungry; it cannot be difficult for those with guaranteed income
and who can send their children to school, to talk about morality and
the MMM scam, or condemn the victims while listening to sweet
Christmas carols.
For many of the victims, there will be no Christmas; they cannot
hear the Angels singing and do not have hope of a ‘New, prosperous Year’
The issue is not about religion or morality. Like the German writer
Bertolt Brecht admonished, we should not be speaking in the name of
morality, but in that of its victims. Like an African wise saying,
‘You do not admonish the hunchback to straighten up; if he could, he
would have done so without any prompting.’
The MMM matter is primarily, about desperate citizens trying to
keep afloat in a society with little or no social security; where
hunger is no crime; poverty is no sin; rat race is the norm; dog eat
dog; market forces is the religion, and every man to himself and God for
us all. As a people, we should repossess our compass and show empathy
for our fellow citizens so afflicted. We should ask why despite our past
experiences with such schemes like Forum, Umanah Umanah, the wonder
banks and internet scammers, millions of our people still fall prey. We
should contribute to finding ways the MMM depositors can get back their
funds or least a reasonable percentage of it.
If we ask ourselves why banks give ridiculously low interest
rates on savings and charge scandalously high interest on loans, we will
come to the inevitable conclusion that generally, banks do not serve
the interests of Nigerians nor can their customers rely on them.
The MMM took advantage of the greed and unreliability of the banks
to swindle people. It says in its mission statement that:? “This is a
community of ordinary people, selflessly helping each other, a kind of
the Global Fund of mutual aid. This is the first sprout of something new
in the modern soulless and ruthless world of greed and hard cash.
The goal here is not the money. The goal is to destroy the world’s
unjust financial system. Financial Apocalypse!”. In this, it falsely
presents itself as a defender of the poor running a self-help
cooperative system as fight back against the exploitative, greedy and
unfeeling banking system. In reality, all MMM did was to modernise the
American, Charles Ponzi’s 1919 scam of attracting lots of investors
by offering very high interest rate. He used the money of later
investors to pay the earlier ones. But when there were not enough new
investors, the last group, lost their investment. Hence, such scams are
called Ponzi Sheme. Part of our tragedy as a people, is the abandonment
of our culture and tradition.
In many parts of our country, we have a pre-colonial,
non-exploitative, reliable, mutually beneficial and development-oriented
banking system called OSUSU. It is community-based and unlike the
modern banks, is there in times of need. The question is, why can’t we
develop and expand this banking system to run parallel with the
Western banking system? This is what the Chinese would have done, and
that is why they are way ahead of us. I am not completely ruling out the
fact that some of the victims of the MMM might have been driven by
greed, but that is partly why we have the state; to check the greed of
the few, and provide the needs of the many.
The greed of the few should be no excuse why the regulators
allowed our people to be scammed for a whole year when it is their
duty to protect the state and the people. The MMM after fifteen years of
mastering its scam, berthed in Nigeria in November 2015 dangling a
monthly 30 percent interest rate. Although its fruits are well known, it
was allowed to plant and water its seeds until growing pressure and
exposure forced it on December 13, 2016 to announce a one month freeze.
It promises to resurrect with the savings of the victims on January 13,
2017, but this is highly improbable. However if by some miracle it
does, the certainty that it would soon go down the grave is not in
doubt.
The Central Bank and other regulators need to act on this and
protect the citizenry. We must not abandon our people to scammers. Since
the constitutional right to life does not include the right to commit
suicide, we cannot allow free choice to include economic suicide.
Nigerians must be protected.
***
Written by Owei Lakemfa.
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