The Advent And Crash Of MMM In Nigeria

MMM Nigeria which stands for Mavrodi Mundial Movement is a ponzi scheme that allows its participant to get 30% of any amount they donated in the previous month. The scheme was founded by a Russian programmer, Sergie Mavrodi and it was already in over 100 countries before it came to Nigeria 3 years ago.

   Nigerians who are known to be very hardworking set of people that doesn't welcome such, didn't pay enough attention to MMM in it's first year in the country, but a year later, probably because of the hardship the newly elected government brought to its citizens, the MMM website became one of the most visited website in Nigeria ahead of the popular social network sites: Facebook and other known websites. This is traceable to the fact that millions of Nigerians have joined this wonder bank structure and the reason is not far fetched. Many people think its a good option for them to survive the economic hardship of the nation more so when the most populous black nation in the world entered recession.

   Although, it was stated in the prospectus of the scheme that only spare money should be used in the donation and again, only the cash people can afford to lose is what is needed for participation, as a logical man the Russian is, no one ever thought the statement is so logical as the fail to ask themselves is there any amount of money worthy to lose most especially in the current form of the economy. Well, people started venturing their Money into MMM and it was working fine. Students used their school fees, workers secretly donated the company's cash, thrift collectors used their members' contributions just to get extra 30% in the following month.

   According to history, Sergie Mavrodi is an ex-convict who was accused for tax invasion and many other criminal records in the past, this scared many people participating in the scheme and prompted the Federal government of Nigeria to wage war against the scheme and warned all Nigerians to stay off mainly because the founder is a criminal. The government took various ways to condemn MMM which includes sponsored posts, televised programmes, and sorts.

   The threat federal government instilled in the minds of the citizens born many fear in the people that panic hit the system towards the end of the second year of its existence, and people started thinking this would be the end of their wonderful money-making way. Well, some people stopped and some continued anyway. Towards the end of the second year, the fear maximized to the point in which many people decided to get back their money donated as the rumor of the scheme getting collapsed by December spread so much that people already foresaw the end of MMM.

   The programmers of the scheme, however thought it would be very difficult for the future of the scheme to have all the people intending to receive all their donated cash and no one is planning to donate anymore. Thereby, making the programe to enter 'pause mode'. i.e every activity of the MMM programe will be on hold till the following year and everyone will have to resume in the following year. This as a matter of fact broke the hearts of the participants and led to the financial downfall of many people as many have used their life savings to donate their money on the scheme.

   Although, the intent of MMM is pure and clean, but the rumor and threat by the federal government led to the panic and made people lost the hope and never have the believe it would ever come back in the following year as earlier speculated by the programmers. Alas, that was the end of MMM in Nigeria. Even though they came back in the new year but the hope and trust is lost already. and the fact that people need to donate another money before they could claim the money they paused in the previous year is a no-way for many Nigerians.

   News has it that MMM still on going but the participants drastically reduced to it's barest minimal which and till date, many people still have their money stuck in the system and they have no idea how they would get it without releasing another money.